The envelope please: The Concrete Potato Awards for 2012

As 2012 comes to a close, it's time for our annual Concrete Potato Awards, given for excellence in eccentric roadside attractions we've been to in the last year. Named after the Idaho Potato Expo, seen in the masthead of this blog, it been a tradition here at Eccentric Roadside for, well, a while now. It was tough to whittle the nominees down to 10, but whittle we did and now, without further ado and in no particular order we present this year's Concreteys (and remember, it's an honor just to be nominated...)

The Farnham Colossi, Unger, West Virginia

Salty the Seahorse, Mattapoisett, Massachusetts

The Purple Cow, Dooms, Virginia

We completed our trinity of highways named in honor of actors from "The Andy Griffith Show": The Andy Griffith Parkway of Mount Airy, North Carolina, and Don Knotts Boulevard of Morgantown, West Virginia were seen in 2012, joining the ranks of the Jim Nabors Highway of Sylacauga, Alabama, toured in 2010.

The road blogger summit (featuring Fuzzy Galore, Roadside Wonders, Retro Roadmap and yours truly) at Sine's 5 and 10, Quakertown, Pennsylvania

We saw lots of eccentrically named streets last year. This one, from somewhere in Connecticut, is my favorite.

The Big Duck, Flanders, New York

Don't Go Here, Connecticut

Odd, West Virginia

The 12-foot handcart of Johnston, Rhode Island (with two 5-foot-six-inch Ringo Starrs for scale)

The envelope, please: The Concrete Potato Awards for 2011

As 2011 comes to a close, it's time for our annual Concrete Potato Awards, given for excellence in eccentric roadside attractions we've been to in the last year. Named after the Idaho Potato Expo, seen in the masthead of this blog, it been a tradition here at Eccentric Roadside for over a 33rd of a century. It was tough to whittle the nominees down to 10, but whittle we did and now, without further ado and in no particular order we present this year's Concreteys (and remember, it's an honor just to be nominated...)

The World's Biggest Ball of Twine, Cawker City, Kansas

The American Gothic House, Eldon, Iowa

Bodega and Bodega Bay, California, location of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds"

Three Mile Island, near Middletown, Pennsylvania

Alcatraz, near San Francisco, California

The Desert of Maine, Freeport, Maine

The World's Biggest Easel, Goodland, Kansas

The Banned Toy Museum, part of the Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia, Burlingame, California

Roy's Motel and Cafe, Amboy, California

Wendover Will, West Wendover, Nevada

The envelope, please: The Concrete Potato Awards for 2010

As 2010 comes to a close, it's time for our annual Concrete Potato Awards, given for excellence in eccentric roadside attractions we've been to in the last year. Named after the Idaho Potato Expo, seen in the masthead of this blog, it been a tradition here at Eccentric Roadside for over a 50th of a century. It was tough to whittle the nominees down to 10, but whittle we did and now, without further ado and in no particular order we present this year's Concreteys (and remember, it's an honor just to be nominated...)

The Fork in the Road, Rock City, New York

Mammy's Cupboard, Natchez, Mississippi

The Titan Missile Museum, Sahuarita, Arizona

Johnson's Giant Foods, Gadsen, Alabama

The World's Biggest Office Chair, Anniston, Alabama

The Boll Weevil Monument, Enterprise, Alabama

The Airstream Ranch, Dover, Florida

The Cabazon Dinosaurs, Cabazon, California

Shady Dell vintage trailer park, Bisbee, Arizona

Passmore Gas & Propane, Hope, Arizona

You've been a wonderful audience...drive safely!

The envelope please... Our first annual Concrete Potato Awards

We had a great time gawking at eccentric roadside attractions around this great nation of ours last year. Here are the top ten we saw in 2009, in no particular order. And the winners are...

The Gemini Giant at The Launching Pad restaurant in Wilmington, Illinois

The Dean Martin mural, next to Kroger's Supermarket, in Dean's hometown of Steubenville, Ohio

The Dixie Cup water tower in Lexington, Kentucky

Foam Henge: Natural Bridge, Virginia's life-sized replica of Stone Henge, made out of styrofoam.

South of the Border: Dillon, South Carolina's tackorama tourist trap

The abandoned milk can building of North Smithfield, Rhode Island

The statue of Bob Newhart in Chicago, Illinois

The Leaning Tower of Niles, Illinois

The RV Hall of Fame in Elkhart, Indiana

Bondurant's Pharmacy in the shape of a mortar and pestle in Lexington, Kentucky

Congratulations to all the winners. Your awards are being minted as we speak.