While the fun of New York State Fair 2014 is still resonating, we can’t help but think about more terrific times to come. A story today on CNY Central (if you can find it on their website, you’re ahead of us) reacquainted us with an old friend who had a moment of glory at the Fair that we’d like to see repeated.
It seems that North Syracuse resident Stan Munro has recently achieved a world’s record for building structures out of toothpicks. His replica of the Burj Khalifa, Dubai was certified the world’s tallest toothpick structure in the 2015 Guinness Book of World Records. It’s 16 feet high.
Munro’s first major project, Toothpick City, drew crowds of amazed onlookers to the Art and Home Center in 2005 to marvel at his scale reproductions of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Taj Mahal, the Empire State Building, the St. Louis Arch and many other famous buildings, a total of 50 in all.
That original project was sold soon after and is now on permanent display in the House of Katmandu, a museum in Mallorca, Spain. Munro subsequently went back to work, gluing together an even more spectacular collection he called Toothpick City II: Temples and Towers. That collection was displayed at the MOST in downtown Syracuse and is now a traveling exhibit.
Maybe it’s time for a return to the Fair for Munro’s quirky architecture. A steady stream of Fair visitors filed past the display, making it one of that year’s most popular exhibits. Next Fair will be 10 years after and we’ll bet the artist’s newest project would be just as popular. See for yourself at toothpickcity.com.
Worth noting is that that same year, 2005, another traveling exhibit attracted crowds to the Horticulture Building to see a display of Elvis Presley Memorabilia. That type of spectacular collection is another thing that could make a great Fair even better.
Leave a Reply