Wacky Roadside Attractions & Whimsical Sculptures

People are getting dreaming of lazy days, summer vacations and weekend get always. I love wacky roadside attractions as well as whimsical art sculptures so I went in search of some familiar and some undiscovered attractions. I could go on and on and on an on… Instead, I’m going to list just a few every now and than throughout the next few weeks.

The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is a 11-acre park in Minneapolis Minnesota near the Walker Art Center. They claim that it is the largest urban sculpture garden in the United States with 40 permanent art installations and several other temporary pieces that are moved in and out periodically.

Approximately 75 years ago, the Garden area was called the Armory Gardens. The building was torn down in 1933, but the elaborate garden remained under the management of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. In the late 1960s, Interstate Highway 94 severed the connection between Loring Park and the now called Minneapolis Sculpture Gardens, eventually the acreage in front of the Walker Art Center became a playing field.

In 1988 the Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board collaborated to turn that playing field into the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. In 1992 it was expanded from 7.5 to 11 acres, making it the largest urban sculpture garden in the US at the time. There are more than 40 works on permanent view. Additional temporary installations keep the Garden experience innovative and original.

Career Opportunities at the Walker Art Center

Coco Cola at Turner Field in Atlanta Georgia

An Atlanta Braves baseball game is what normally attracts people to Turner Field, but what really gets people fizzed up is the famous Coke contour bottle made up of baseball gear.

According to the sign posted nearby, the Coke bottle contains

• 60 shoes
• 2000 bottle caps
• 48 batting helmets
• 2000 Coca-Cola cans
• 18 catchers mitts
• 86 Fielders gloves
• 290 bats
• 6680 baseballs
• 24 jerseys
• 64 bases
• 16 chest protectors
• 24 pitching rubbers

Designed by Alexander Samuelson and Earl R. Dean back in 1915 for the Chattanooga bottling company.

Career Opportunities at World of Coca Cola

If They Smell Good, They Must Be Good

India

Police in India's Western state of Gujarat will be wearing flowers, not in they’re hair but in their new uniforms. The new flower power will be impregnated with the fragrance of flowers and citrus to help improve their image. In addition to smelling good, the uniforms will have reflective prints and fiber optic technology to make sure the uniform not only smells good but glows at night so officials can be located easily… The new uniforms should be a big hit with the crime crowd.

"Most policemen look hassled, drenched in sweat after coming from any scene of crime," said Somesh Singh, a designer at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad that drew up the uniforms on request of the state government.

"They are surely not the best person one would like to meet, but if they smell good and fresh one might as well approach them," said Singh.

The uniforms will retain the scent even after washing as the fragrance is embedded in the cotton during processing.

Some police say they are eager to try out the new uniforms. Criminals say they are eager to see the new uniforms.

"If the new uniforms makes us stand out in the crowd, keeps us active with pleasant aroma and is yet very formal, then we are all for it." The uniforms will be introduced to the state's 300,000 police in the next few months.

I wonder if this would work for Los Angeles Police Officers? While they mace a student for demonstrating (peaceful) anti etablishment regulations, they could smell not like mace but Foxglove - beautiful but poisonous.

Playing Dress Up