While making our way through the giant corn maze at Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch in Rantoul IL, we found out about the World’s Largest Rocking Chair in Casey IL. That’s because it was displayed on one of the punch card locations in the maze.
We love visiting quirky stuff like that – the first thing we visited at the beginning of our 5 year, 50 state road trip was the World’s Largest Fire Hydrant in Columbia SC.
When investigating Casey further, things got even better. It turned out that this small city of ~2,800 people is home to not only one of the world’s largest things, but eight.
That could only mean one thing – it was time to go hunting for the world’s largest items in Casey IL.
After arriving in Casey, we stopped in at Open Range which is a souvenir shop next to a giant bird cage (although seemingly not the World’s Largest Bird Cage). They were very friendly inside and had a map listing all of the quirky attractions in Casey.
As mentioned earlier, the city has eight of the World’s Largest attractions. The bird cage we’d seen outside the store is one of 11 other giant attractions found there, so we went from having 8 to having 19 things to find.
Ten of them are found along Main Street, while a couple are close by on Central Ave which runs across Main Street. The remainder are a little farther afield, so you need to drive to those.
Here’s a map with all the attractions noted on there. The map is correct as of September 2018; it seems like Casey is adding new attractions all the time though, so there might be additional things to see in the future.
And here’s everything you can see in Casey, Illinois and how to find them.
World’s Largest Mailbox
The World’s Largest Mailbox is truly enormous and you can even go up inside it. The mailbox will likely be one of the first things you notice when driving into Casey.
Not only can you go up inside the mailbox, but you can even mail letters from inside!
World’s Largest Wooden Shoes
The World’s Largest Wooden Shoes can be found inside Casey’s Candy Depot. They’re 11 ft 5 in long, 5 ft 10 in wide and combined weigh about 3,000 lbs.
World’s Largest Knitting Needles & World’s Largest Crochet Hook
Cross over Main Street and head east across Central Avenue. On the left hand side you’ll come to The Yard Studio which is home to two of the World’s Largest attractions – the World’s Largest Knitting Needles and the World’s Largest Crochet Hook.
Be aware that The Yard Studio is only open Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 4pm. We arrived at 4:15pm and so unfortunately didn’t get to go inside the store.
The knitting needles and crochet hook can be seen from the window, so we did get to see them and sort of get them in a couple of photos.
The knitting needles are 13 ft 0.75 in long and 3.25 in wide, while the crochet hook is 6 ft 1.5 in long and 3 in wide.
It looks like the crochet hook in Casey might no longer be the World’s Largest though. That record appears to have been broken in 2017 by a 9 ft 1 in by 4.3 in crochet hook in the UK.
World’s Largest Rocking Chair
Carry on up Main Street and you’ll soon spot the World’s Largest Rocking Chair. It would’ve been awesome to have been able to sit up on it, but the safety precautions they’d need to take in order to make that possible would detract from the chair’s design.
World’s Largest Wind Chime
When standing at the World’s Largest Rocking Chair, turn around and cross over Main Street and you’ll arrive at the World’s Largest Wind Chime.
The wind chime even has a rope you can pull to move it, although it didn’t have the quintessential wind chime sound you’d normally expect to hear. It might be more wind chime-y when it’s blown naturally by the wind though.
World’s Largest Golf Tee
To reach the final two World’s Largest attractions in Casey IL, you’ll need to hop in your car as they’re not within walking distance.
The next attraction is the World’s Largest Golf Tee and can be found at Casey Country Club. After parking in their parking lot, head towards the golf course out back and you should see the golf tee. There’s a raised platform you can walk up to get a photo from a distance.
There’s a path running up to the World’s Largest Golf Tee so you can get right up to it.
World’s Largest Pitchfork
The World’s Largest Golf Tee at Casey Country Club is just off 13th Street. Continue heading north on 13th Street, cross over Rt 40 and shortly after that you’ll see the World’s Largest Pitchfork on the right outside of Richards Farm Restaurant.
So those are all of the World’s Largest attractions in Casey but as mentioned earlier, that’s not all there is to see. There are also 11 giant roadside attractions in different locations around the city.
Giant Pencil
This was one of the first things we saw upon arrival in Casey and we’d originally assumed it was the World’s Largest Pencil. Apparently it’s not – it’s just a very, very big pencil located on Main Street.
Giant Bird Cage
Very close to the giant pencil is a giant bird cage.
The bird cage even has a swing inside that you can sit on. Shae and I didn’t go on it, but we’d brought our dog Truffles with us to Casey, so she had a quick swing.
Giant Minion
About a block further down Main Street on the other side of the road is a giant minion waving to you as you leave Casey.
Giant Ear Of Corn
Head back up Main Street in the opposite direction and cross over Central Avenue. On the street corner you’ll see a giant ear of corn. Well, ‘giant’ might be stretching it – maybe more like large.
Giant Saguaro Cactus
Head back over Main Street and there’s a large metallic cactus by the side of the road.
There are three other giant attractions that might be within walking distance depending on how active you’re feeling. It was quite hot the day we visited though, so we hopped back in the car to drive to see all the other roadside attractions.
Giant Bookworm
Head east up Main Street a couple of blocks and you’ll see a giant bookworm in the grass outside Casey Township Library.
Giant Spinning Top
Head back down Main Street the way you came, then turn left on Central Avenue. A block up on the left you’ll spot the giant spinning top outside of Deborah’s Attic.
Giant Baseball Bat
Once you’ve found the spinning top, continue south on Central Avenue for a few blocks and then turn left on Monroe Avenue. Continue for a few more blocks and turn right on 4th Street. Take it all the way to the end, turn left on Tyler Avenue and then turn left into Fairview Park.
You should see a baseball field on the left, with both a parking lot and the giant baseball bat next to it.
Giant Yardstick
Having found the baseball bat, head back along the same route you took and turn right on Central Avenue. Cross over Main Street and drive a block further; the giant yardstick will be on your left outside Pretty Petals & More.
Giant Rocking Horse
Next up is Casey’s giant rocking horse. Continue driving north along Central Avenue, cross over Rt 40 and keep an eye out for JJet Rental Sales & Service on the left. Outside their store is a giant rocking horse that’s 7.41 ft tall, 11.75 ft long and 3.125 ft wide.
The horse is made of recycled telephone poles which were hand-carved using a chainsaw and then coated with a PPG waterborne base coat. Unfortunately it’s something you have to admire from a distance as you’re not allowed to touch or climb on it, although that’s understandable.
Giant Wooden Token
Once you’ve seen the rocking horse, turn left out of JJet Leasing back on to Central Avenue. Continue half a mile up the road until you reach Casey State Bank on the right (just before McDonald’s).
You can park in their parking lot and walk to the giant wooden token outside the bank. The token has additional wooden tokens mounted on it representing all the World’s Largest attractions in Casey IL.
Having said that, there’s a token for a pencil on there even though it’s not the World’s Largest Pencil.
Giant Toy Airplane
Casey Municipal Airport is apparently home to a giant toy airplane. We somehow missed this when visiting, so it’s the only giant attraction we don’t have a photo of 🙁
Final Thoughts
The people of Casey, Illinois have done a great thing by creating all of these World’s Largest and giant roadside attractions.
It’s turned a small city that no one would likely think to visit into somewhere that’s definitely worth a stop if you’re travelling along I-70 through Illinois. We even drove two hours from Litchfield, Illinois to see it all and are glad we made the effort.
If you love random roadside attractions like these, check out all the other quirky stuff we’ve visited so far on our 5 year, 50 state road trip.
Love roadside attractions cant wait yo read about your adventure.
Thank you!