We were planning on driving from the St. Louis area to the Erie, Pennsylvania area today. We had RV reservations for the night at Presque Isle Passage RV Park. It was going to be a long day of driving, and we wanted to break it up a little bit, so we decided to look at the Roadside Attractions map. We noticed there were a ton of attractions listed for Casey, Illinois. This was directly on our route eastbound on Interstate 70. We noticed things like the World’s Largest Rocking Chair and the World’s Largest Barber Pole. There were at least 20 roadside attractions in Casey. We decided that this was going to be our leg-stretching activity for the day.
Upon arrival in Casey, there is a massive set of deer antlers, but not the world’s largest. How they are not the world’s largest is beyond me. Almost directly across the street is the World’s Largest Coin Token, but it didn’t interest us too much at the time, so we kept driving into town.
The amount of “Big Things” and World Record largest things in downtown Casey is extraordinary. There are also many others scattered around the outskirts of town. Even though Casey has a population of just over 2,000 and is not very large in size, we didn’t have time to see everything. Casey’s moniker is “Big Things Small Town.” They have bet big on tourism and seem to have an “if we build it, they will come” philosophy. They are regularly adding new giant attractions in front of the businesses in town. The World’s Largest Golf Tee, checking in at nearly 7,000 lbs. was erected to try and draw attention to the local course. The World’s Largest Golf Driver at 45 feet in height also attracts golfers and tourists alike. Sadly, we missed both.
Free parking abounds and there are myriad cute shops and restaurants downtown. We were there early but the town was already alive with people taking selfies and gawking at the attractions. It was too early for most of the shops but Whisk + Lollies (right by the World’s Largest Mailbox) was open. The have wonderful baked goods, candies, specialty sodas, and “viral Tik Tok finds” (their words, not mine). We grabbed a half dozen truffles and some dog treats. The shop is dog-friendly so don’t forget to take a picture with your pet sitting in front of the World’s Largest Wooden Shoes, located in Whisk + Lollies.
https://www.facebook.com/people/Whisk-Lollies/61573206720670/?_rdr
As mentioned, we didn’t have time to see everything and there is still much for us to discover there another day. The attractions we did see were fantastic and well created. The World’s Largest Mailbox is very impressive, and you can climb a set of stairs to go up and look out from the mailbox. There is even a drop box so you can mail a letter or postcard from inside.
Equally jaw-dropping is the World’s Largest Rocking Chair. You just must see it. It seems to take up an entire city block.
We found Casey so compelling that we booked a one-night stay at the Casey KOA in July so we could walk through town again and see all the things we missed the first time.
