There’s nothing quite like hitting the road and taking in the sights: offbeat art, larger-than-life sculptures, and just delightfully bizarre roadside attractions.
We’ve rounded up 10 of thewildest ones you’ll find in British Columbia.
Hockey stick & puck
According to Guinness World Records, the world’s largest hockey stick is 40 times bigger than life-sized, weighing in at over 28,000 kilograms and stretching more than 62 metres in length.
Originally built for the Canadian Pavilion at Expo ’86 in Vancouver, the jumbo hockey stick and its accompanying puck now sit outside the Cowichan Community Centre in Duncan. Game on!
Mr. PG
Since 1960, Mr. PG has been welcoming visitors to Prince George. He was originally created as a way to promote the area’s forestry industry, and his smiling, Pinocchio-esque face has adorned everything from t-shirts to quilts to postage stamps.
The Moss Lady
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Eternally slumbering in Victoria’s tranquil Beacon Hill Park is The Moss Lady. This 11-metre-long art piece was dreamed up by gardener Dale Doebert, who found inspiration in Mud Maid, an earth sculpture in the Lost Gardens of Heligan in England. Flowering crocosmia plants make up her hair, and her moss was harvested by Doebert and his wife near Shawnigan Lake. But shhhhhhh, don’t wake her up.
Penny
A penny for your thoughts? If you have really big thoughts, you might want to head to Salmo to contemplate the world’s largest penny. Standing 2.5 metres tall, this giant coin commemorates the town’s Penny Power campaign in 1995. Its goal was to reduce the national debt by collecting unwanted pennies and donating them to the Canadian government.
Tin Soldier
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Standing guard over New Westminster is the cutest (and tallest) tin soldier you ever did see, at 9.75 metres tall and a weight of 4,540 kilograms — with size 60 boots. It honours the Columbia Detachment of Royal Engineers’ role in founding, surveying and laying out the city of New West. In the soldier’s heart is a time capsule that will be opened in 2025.
Cuckoo clock
Don your best lederhosen for a stop in downtown Kimberley to see the largest free-standing cuckoo clock in Canada. Back in the 1970s, this mining town reinvented itself as “the Bavarian city of the Rockies.” If you insert a coin in the clock, Happy Hans will come out and yodel for you. Yodel-lay-hee-hoo!
The Birds
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With The Birds, artist Myfanwy MacLeod comments on how introducing a non-native species can threaten the biodiversity of an area. The giant sculptures in Vancouver were themselves under threat — by a public determined to climb and ride bikes and skateboards on them. They ultimately suffered so much damage that they had to be sent to China and Calgary for costly repairs.
Peach
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Penticton’s iconic Peach on the Beach actually serves lemonade. Once a locally loved ice cream shop, the peach has since been bought out and now operates as a lemonade stand. The giant peach is fun for selfies all year round.
Weird fact: Back in 1991, after a performance by MC Hammer at the annual Peach Festival, rioters rolled the peach into Okanagan Lake — which everyone later agreed was the absolute pits.
Rambo
Yup, you read that right. Actor Sylvester Stallone is among those praising Hope, BC, for its statues, and you can’t miss the iconic rendition of one of the actor’s most iconic roles in the Fraser Canyon community.
Since 2020, tourists and locals alike can stop and pose with the Rambo statue, which depicts the character John J. Rambo from the film First Blood. It was commissioned by the district to have carver Ryan Villiers create the piece out of red cedar, and it’s not alone – the area has tons of statues to check out, all within a few blocks, although the others didn’t get a Stallone shoutout on social media.
Goats on the Roof
On your journey up to Tofino, be sure to stop by The Old Country Market, where you can shop for local produce, buy gifts, eat great food, and of course, see goats on a roof.
For over 50 years, this market in Coombs, BC has been an island landmark. You can even watch a live-feed online to see the local resident goats, Pip and Penny, on the roof between May and October this year.
What do you think of these stops? Let us know in the comments.
This piece was originally posted in 2021 and has since been updated.