Roadside Attractions in Ontario

Canadians love roadside attractions, the bigger - the better! A roadside attraction is something you’d typically see while traveling on Canadian roads and highways. These are freely available novelties, sculptures, murals or landmarks that make you want to stop and take pictures. To locals, these attractions are often familiar signs that they are nearly home.

Canadian roadside attractions range from humorous renditions of local animal mascots to tributes of historical figures and scenes. There are many attractions dedicated to wildlife and animals such as moose, deer, wolves, bears, polar bears, beavers, various fish, eagles, ducks, geese, and domestic animals such as pigs, cows, horses and dogs. There are even life-sized dinosaurs and a snowman.

Wawa Goose, Wawa, ON

Inukshuk

Inukshuk (also spelled Inuksuk) is an Inuit word and symbol meaning “something which acts for or performs the function of a person.” The Inukshuk is not exclusive to Ontario, but found in many northern communities across Canada. They acted as directional guideposts in the vast northern regions of Canada. The 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games logo, created by Vancouver artist, Elena Rivera MacGregor, features an Inukshuk. Some of the most well-known Inuksuit in Ontario are in Collingwood, Eagle Canyon, Marmora, Newmarket, Port Severn, Thessalon, and Toronto.

Animals and Wildlife
Some of the more humorously named city or local mascots are: Chelsey’s Big Bruce (a bull), Cochrane’s Chimo the Polar Bear, Kenora’s Husky the Muskie, Moose Lake’s Bruce the Moose, Opasatika’s Pickeral the Walleye, Ottawa’s Maman the Spider (bronze sculpture), Rainy River’s Rainy River Bob (beaver), Upsala’s Waldo the Great (fish), and Wiarton’s Wiarton Willie – a groundhog who predicts an early spring, or not.

Chimo the Polar Bear - Chesley, ON

Wiarton Willie, Wiarton, ON

Gigantic Chairs
Another roadside attraction that seems to be quite popular in multiple locations in Ontario is the Adirondack or Muskoka chair. While the largest one resides in Varney, Ontario, you can also see other chairs in Gravehurst, Huntsville, and South River.

World’s Largest Adirondack Chair, Varney, ON

Logging Monuments
One of Canada’s largest industries is Pulp and Paper – and that means logging. There are a lot of tributes to the logging industry including; a monument in Blind River as well as a statue of Paul Bunyan and his ox, Babe, lumberjack statues in Iron Bridge, Massey, Renfrew, and Stanhope. In Pembroke, ON you can find a huge pointer boat monument – a type of boat used to move logs in logging.

Pointer Boat, Pembroke, ON

Mining Monuments
In addition to logging monuments, you’ll also see mining industry attractions such as the monument in Elliot Lake featuring a miner and Uranium Atom, the monument in Kirkland Lake, or the Uranium Atom in Rolphton, ON. Virginiatown and Campbellford, ON have huge Canadian Toonie coins - where in Echo Bay you will find the much larger than life Canadian Loonie coin. Stanhope, ON features a 1951 Canadian Nickel and a Mining Heritage sculpture.

Loonie Monument in Echo Bay, ON and Toonie Monument in Campbellford, ON.

Airplanes
There are a several Ontario cities that boast replicas of airplanes, old cars, trucks, boats and even a flying saucer! In Barry’s Bay you will find an Avro Arrow replica – a Canadian built delta-wing interceptor aircraft. Ignace, ON, has a historical Beech 18 – a twin engine plane that first saw flight in the late 1930’s. Sauble Beach has an airplane too - on a mini-golf course office roof. Don’t miss the McKerrow airplane weathervane either.

Forget Roswell, you can find this flying saucer in Moonbeam, ON.

Trucks and Cars and Extreme Sports

Burlington has a truck and trailer on a warehouse roof that you really can’t miss. Owen Sound has a Mack truck on a pole (how did they do that?!). Not quite a truck, but the Miller Lake,ON stone bulldozer is quite a unique roadside attraction (it’s made out of stone). Cainsville has an old police patrol car on a roof, and we can’t forget the gigantic Mosquito on a Studebaker Lark in Nolalu, ON. The Manitouwadge turnoff has a very interesting extreme sports attraction with an ATV (4 wheeler) and a snowmobile.

Manitouwadge Turnoff, Manitouwadge, ON

Boats
There are a few noteworthy boats to see in Ontario too. Cobden, ON has a Noah’s Ark replica. Ear Falls, ON has fondly named a tug boat, Patricia. Murray Canal, ON also has a tug boat you can view. French River, Longlac, Mattice and Sault Ste. Marie all have Coureurs de Bois (voyageur canoes).

Canadian roadside attractions are many and varied, and this list just touches on some of the most interesting or well known. Maybe the huge Radar dish in Clinton, ON, can find some more Ontario roadside attractions. Or the large binoculars in Dorset, ON, can spy some. Mr. Furnace in Fonthill, ON is likely tall enough to see some of the other Ontario roadside attractions. Or perhaps you can recommend or send pictures of your local Ontario roadside attractions to be included in this resource!

Images courtesy flickr and copyright their respective owners.

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