World's Largest Ball of Twine, Cawker City, Kansas

If you've ever seen the Chevy Chase movie, "Family Vacation," you may understand why taking my grandchildren to see the Worlds Largest Ball of Twine while on a cross-country road trip was an absolute thrill. Frank Stoeber started the twine ball on his farm in in 1953, and by 1957 it weighed 5,000 lbs. and stood 8-feet-tall. Stoeber gave his prized creation to the community in 1961, and since then the Cawker City Community Club has been the official owner/caretaker of the ball of twine.

Each year on the 3rd Saturday in August a twine-a-thon is held in conjunction with the annual Cawker City picnic and parade. A twine winding is held the Friday before, so the ball never stops growing. At last count it weighed 17,554 lbs, was 40 feet in circumference, and contained over 7,009,942-feet (1,325 miles) of sisal twine - enough to reach more than half way around the world.

The ball of twine is under an open pavilion on the main street through Cawker City. Standing in front of the ball of twine in this photo are my grandchildren, Alexandria and Nicholas.

Directions:Cawker City is in north-central Kansas on US-24. The ball of twine sits beside Wisconsin Street, (US-24) in the heart of Cawker City. It's a very small town and a BIG ball of twine, so you will have no trouble finding it.