But what’s actually bigger in Texas?
Texans have the tendency to carry an unwavering pride for the state, with a penchant for embellishment. Everything is bigger and better in Texas: the Tex-Mex, the brisket, the largest state fair – everything that isn’t its electrical grid system. While the expression is believed to have originated as a reference to its size as the second largest state in the nation, what we’ve set out to do was compile a list of what is actually bigger – more specifically, biggest – in Texas. So here you are, a list of the world’s largest attractions found in Texas.
1. Beer Can House (Houston)
Featured on Ripley’s Believe It Or Not – remember that show? – the Beer Can House puts frat houses and your uncle’s shed of empties to shame with over 50,000 cans constructing this beer can casa.
2. Blue Crab (Rockport)
While the original was damaged in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, the residents of Rockport didn’t wait long to resurrect their Big Blue Crab. Using aluminum and fiberglass, artist David Allgood (what a name) recreated the mammoth crab to proportions of 27 x 27 feet on Seabreeze Drive.
3. Bowie Knife (Bowie)
Measuring in at 20 feet, 6 inches long, the town of Bowie, Texas, lays claim to the longest bowie knife in the world. Slightly larger than the one wielded by Rambo in the original trilogy, the town’s bowie knife was created in 2016 to commemorate the town’s namesake. Fun fact: iconic musician, David Bowie, born David Jones, based his stage name on the knife saying that “it cuts both ways”.
4. Convenience Store (New Braunfels)
Whether or not you need a restroom break, gas, or a kolache, if you’re commuting through Texas and spot a Bucc-ee’s, you’re making a pit stop out of respect. While they are nearly 40 locations throughout Texas, the largest – and according to its website, world’s largest – outpost is located on I-35 in New Braunfels, with its storefront reaching 66,335 square feet boasting 1,000 parking spaces, a Wall of Candy, 60 gas pumps, a barbecue pit, and 80 soda fountains. However, news reports that its status as the world’s largest is likely coming to an end with Bucc-ee’s plans to open an even larger convenience store in Tennessee.
5. Commercially Available Pizza (Burleson)
Ever been so hungry that you could eat a bus? Well, take that craving to the town of Burleson and seat yourself at Moontower Pizza Bar, where you can feast on their 8-ft x 2.75-ft pizza named “The Bus” – the world’s largest commercially available pizza. Be apprised, this vehicle-sized pizza is priced at $299.95 and requires orders to be made 48 hours in advance.
6. Cowboy Statue (Dallas)
Welcoming one and all to State Fair of Texas, is the always-smiling Big Tex – the tallest cowboy in the world. Standing at a modest 52-ft tall, Big Tex first came on the scene back in 1952 to advertise the state fair – which is actually rather appropriate, as it is the largest state fair in the country. What may be unknown to some Big Tex’s CV, which includes a previous position as a Santa Claus in Kerens, Texas.
7. Cowboy Boots (San Antonio)
Inspired by the growing fad of Texas chic, Bob “Daddy-O” Wade pulled up his bootstraps and created the colossal pair of 35-feet-high, 10,000-pound Ostrich-skin boots in Washington D.C. in 1979. By the end of the year, the Rouse Company – the company that owned North Star Mall at the time – purchased the boots and have them transferred via three trucks to Wade’s home state of Texas using back roads throughout the journey as to avoid overpasses.
8. Horseshoe (Marfa)
While the Guinness World Records reports that the largest horseshoe statue resides in Mumbai, India with proportions of roughly 8-feet wide at 8-feet tall. According to a statement from the artists in Marfa, its horseshoe statue – Monument to the Last Horse – outsizes the former at proportions of 19 feet x 17 feet.
9. Jackrabbit (Ralls)
In support of the Ralls Jackrabbits baseball team, stands its mascot, a 14-foot, 6-inch tall, jackrabbit weighing in at 5,000 pounds. Created by chainsaw artist, Cam Dockery, the jackrabbit statue eclipsed the former reigning record holders in Odessa.
10. Killerbee Statue (Hidalgo)
While the arrival of Africanized killer bees in America 70 odd years ago created a bit of a bad buzz, the town of Hidalgo decided to kill them with kindness. After it discovered a colony of these bees in the town in 1990, Hidalgo erected a 2,000-pound statue of a killer bee to commemorate the moment.
11. Pecan (Seguin)
As the original harbingers of the world’s largest pecan, the town of Seguin did not accept defeat after some Missouri farmers built a larger, 7-by-12-foot concrete pecan. In turn, Seguin erected a 8-by-16-foot fiberglass monument in 2011 at the Pecan Museum of Texas.
12. Spur (Lampases)
Where there’s boots, there’s spurs. But you won’t find this massive 33-ft tall, 21-ft-long spur attached to Bob Wade’s boots in San Antonio. Instead, you can visit this monument in Lampases, Texas – more specifically, in the parking lot of Texas Real Estate Sales.
13. Strawberry Sculpture (Poteet)
30 miles or so south of San Antonio, is the town of Poteet, famous for its annual strawberry festival. On the doorstep of its fire department rests a 7-foot, 1,600-lb strawberry. But in the Strawberry Capitol of Texas, that’s just an appetizer. Visitors and residents can see from a distance the world’s largest strawberry sculpture, which is, the town’s 130-ft tall water tower painted in the image of a strawberry.
14. Watermelon (Luling)
Home to a Watermelon Thump car rally, Watermelon Queen Pageant, and seed-spitting competition, Luling, Texas, goes wild for watermelons. Indeed, their greatest tribute to the fruit is that of a watermelon monolith, standing at a height of 154-ft tall.