Thanks to Weird Al, the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota is one of the most well know, off-beat tourist attractions in Minnesota. For decades, people have thrown themselves into the irony of traveling across counties, states, and even countries just to see this giant ball of twine. Me too. :)
The official title of the attraction is The World's Largest Twine Ball by One Man. They needed to add that final clarification at the end because of competition from Ripley's Believe It or Not. In the late 80s, they wanted to buy the Twine Ball for their museum of oddities. The proprietors of the Twine Ball at the time refused as it would've removed the attraction from their town.
As a response, Ripley's made their own massive twine ball. Some other copycats in the US did the same. Ripley's project eventually surpassed the size of Darwin's Twine Ball, but it was assembled by a team of people, not a single man.
That man was Francis Johnson, born in 1904, died in 1989. He was a builder, tinkerer, and wood carver who lived his life in Darwin, MN. He began putting together the Twine Ball in 1950, tying together used strips of baller twine donated from his farming friends.
By 1958, the ball has grown to a 6-foot diameter. He would load the ball on his truck for the town parade each year. He also traveled with it across the country to New York City to appear on TV. He stopped adding to the ball in 1979 when he was 75 years old. At that point, the diameter reached about 12 feet. It was the World's Largest Ball of Twine until 1994 when Ripley's ball surpasseed it.
In August 2001, the city of Darwin moved their old train depot behind the twine ball. The train depot was a museum of Darwin history, and now it could also house the souvenir shop for the Twine Ball and the many photos of tourists who came from around the world to visit.
My first time visiting the Twine Ball was a few months before this happened. My friends and I drove out to the Twine Ball on March 12th, 2001 to finally see this thing Weird Al had told me about all those years ago. I was able to recently recover the photos, so you can view them here.
Every year, the City of Darwin celebrates Twine Ball Days with a parade and festival, live music and beer tents. It was held on August 9th this year, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Twine Ball's creation. I went to visit the ball during the week, though, so I could get some clean photos without crowds of people.
There are future plans for the Twine Ball. One of the town's residents recently purchased the adject Twine Ball Inn, which had been closed for years. The inside had been completely gutted, and she plans on turning it into an actual Inn on airbnb. Sounds fun. :) But, who knows how long that'll happen with the state of the world.
In honor of Weird Al's contribution to the Twine Ball's fame, the short road next to the park was renamed to Weird Alley in 2019, just a few days before he performed at the Minnesota State Fair that year. While it was difficult for him to travel to Darwin, volunteers from the town were able to meet him at the fair and give him an updated T-shirt.
I'm not sure if it's actually worth the time to travel an hour west of Minneapolis to see the Twine Ball, but it's a kitchy thing to do if you have a spare morning or afternoon.
