Despite a heat index above 90 degrees by noon, Collinsville’s 2014 Catsup Bottle Festival had another successful year celebrating condiments, cars and Collinsville spirit on July 13.
A poster advertising the World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things / Photo by Rachel Heston-Davis
Favorite catsup-themed activities returned to the fest, including the Little Princess Tomato and Sir Catsup Contest, the Brooks Tangy Catsup Taste Test stand, the catsup-smothered tater tot eating challenge, and a Happy Birthday song and cake for the star of the show, Collinsville’s own giant Brooks catsup bottle. The Cruzin’ In Antiques (C.I.A.) car show set up shop as well, giving visitors a peak under the hood at everything from a classic ‘50s Chevy to modern hot rods.
The city’s famous bottle drew some special visitors this year, one of whom dedicates her livelihood to celebrating giant monuments. Erika Nelson of Lucas, Kan., brought her traveling sideshow to the festival for the eighth year in a row. Nelson drives around the continental U.S. proudly displaying the World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things.
The sideshow is—well—exactly what it says. Nelson makes miniature versions of large monuments, and her collection of replicas has grown to be the “largest” of its kind.
Her collection includes, among many others, a tiny model of the giant strawberry statue from Strawberry Point, Iowa; a replica of the big flamingo in Baltimore; the Lousville Slugger monument from Louisville, Ky.; even a set of Hat ‘N Boots as it appears in Seattle. And, of course, Collinsville’s Brooks bottle is included.
Each replica is small enough to fit in one hand. The collection totals more than 90 pieces and growing, because, as Nelson says, “I’m always finding more!” She’s on a continual quest to search out large statues that can be turned into toy-sized models.
Nelson first began the project as an attempt to solve a problem: although she loves large monuments, she says that most of the communities in which they are located do not produce good souvenirs for the adoring public. You can’t actually find many gift shops selling tiny versions of the statues Nelson so respects. Thus, she made her own, and eventually turned it into a traveling show.
Nelson is an artist who divides her time between public art projects, restoration, teaching, lectures, and touring with her portable museum. The pieces are displayed in what she calls her “art car”—a Jeep painted in a funky brown, blue, and yellow pattern, with most of the windows devoted to shelf displays of the pieces. The jeep has antlers affixed to the top and is called “the Jeepelope.” The Jeepelope is art car number three for Nelson, who has been traveling the country for many years now.
“I sleep in Kansas, but the rest of the world is my living room,” she says.
The Jeepelope wasn’t the only vehicle to interest Catsup Festival crowds. The Oscar Meyer Wienermobile joined the car show, appropriately placing a giant hot dog within range of the World’s Largest Catsup Bottle.
This Wienermobile is one of only six in the nation. It parks at various locations to draw crowds and celebrate food—at a Schnucks parking lot one week, a military base commissary the next, or, as was the case Sunday, at festivals. It has even been rented, reports driver Joe Zerka, for rides to prom.
Zerka says the best stops are the ones where the giant dog is not expected, such as filling up at gas stations along the interstate. People get excited, take pictures, and feel like they’ve seen something special, rather like finding a four-leaf clover when you weren’t looking.
“It’s an icon,” Zerka says of the vehicle. “It’s been around for 78 years.”
The rest of the festival kept with the catsup and hotdog theme very well. Large rubber hot dogs with handles gave kids a way to bounce out their energy under the water sprinklers. The catsup bottle souvenir stand sold its usual wares of Catsup Bottle T-shirts, postcards, coffee cups, and pins. Even the watermelon eating contest allowed the option for Brooks catsup on your watermelon, which, sadly, all contestants declined.
Festival Co-Chair and “Big Tomato” Mike Gassman was pleased with the turnout. As of 12 p.m., when temperatures were climbing fast, he stated that attendance didn’t seem to have been impacted.
“It’s been a whole lot of fun,” he said. “Very enthusiastic crowd!”
Alas, the Wienermobile left without getting any catsup poured on it from the giant bottle. Maybe next year.
