Larger Than Life: Giant Roadside Cheeto Sculpture Draws Crowds of Cheesy Tourists

Larger Than Life: Giant Roadside Cheeto Sculpture Draws Crowds of Cheesy Tourists - Snack Attack: The Story Behind the Jumbo Junk Food

Towering over the landscape along a stretch of rural highway, a 25-foot tall sculpture of a Cheeto has become an unlikely roadside attraction. This jumbo junk food is larger than life, but what's the story behind it?

As it turns out, the giant cheesy snack sculpture was commissioned in 2021 by Chester Cheetah himself to celebrate Cheetos' 80th anniversary. Chester wanted to give fans something big and bold to honor eight decades of the iconic cheese-dusted snack.

The larger-than-life Cheeto was crafted by artists at Singleton Creative, a design studio known for making eye-catching brand activations and experiences. Constructed with a steel frame and fiberglass exterior, the sculpture weighs over 11,000 pounds and took a team of 15 people over 3,500 hours to complete.

Once finished, the colossal Cheeto was trucked from Singleton's workshop in California out to its new home along Route 66 in Catoosa, Oklahoma. Towering over the landscape, it quickly became an attention-grabbing roadside oddity that attracts countless hungry looky-loos.

Of course, the giant snack is perfectly positioned to take advantage of social media and get people snapping selfies. Chester Cheetah knew a share-worthy photo op would help spread the word about Cheetos' milestone anniversary.

By creating an Instagrammable giant food moment, the brand has sparked joy and tapped into people's appetite for larger than life experiences. Tourists flock from far and wide to pose with the monumental morsel.

While the jumbo junk food was originally intended as a temporary installation, its popularity led Chester to extend its stay indefinitely. As long as people keep pulling over to snap selfies and revel in its ridiculousness, the colossal Cheeto continues to deliver big smiles along the mother road.

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Larger Than Life: Giant Roadside Cheeto Sculpture Draws Crowds of Cheesy Tourists - XL Cheeto Challenges Banana for Title of Top Fruit-Shaped Tourist Trap

When it comes to giant roadside food sculptures, the banana has long held the title as the wackiest and most popular. Installed in front of diners, mini golf courses, and fruit stands, giant bananas have been enticing motorists to pull over for a photo op since the 1960s. But now, the supremacy of the colossal banana may be under threat thanks to an unlikely challenger - the giant Cheeto.

While bananas have dominated the fruit-shaped statue scene for decades, the 25-foot tall Cheeto in Catoosa, Oklahoma is giving the curved yellow fruit a run for its money. Ever since the snackable sculpture appeared along Route 66 in 2021, it has generated buzz and drawn crowds of camera-ready tourists.

The roadside Cheeto offers social media-savvy travelers a colorful new background for their latest Instagram posts. While the classic banana can look dated, the bright orange Cheeto pops visually in photos. When it comes to getting attention online, the cheesy snack has proven tough to beat.

Of course, novelty and nostalgia still draw travelers to banana sculptures, like the iconic Peel Banana Peel along old Route 66. But the giant Cheeto's quirky shape and branding seem tailor-made for shares, likes, and viral fame. It clearly reflects how modern roadside attractions are adapting to take advantage of image-focused platforms.

For many tourists cruising down two-lane blacktops today, getting that perfect pic for their feed is just as important as the road trip experience itself. The giant Cheeto delivers on both fronts. Visitors can snap cheeky selfies and indulge their appetite for oddities at the same time.

By tapping into our hunger for oversized food oddities and shareable moments, the towering Cheeto manages to be both playfully ironic and instantly Instagrammable. For a new generation of road trippers raised on social media, that combination is irresistible.

Larger Than Life: Giant Roadside Cheeto Sculpture Draws Crowds of Cheesy Tourists - Get Your Photo Ops Before This Cheesy Sculpture Crumbles

While the giant Cheeto was built to last, nothing gold can stay, as the poet says. This cheese-dusted sculpture won't stand indefinitely along the side of the highway, slowly crumbling in the elements. Impermanence is part of what gives it its offbeat appeal.

Like all good roadside attractions, part of the giant Cheeto’s mystique is its ephemeral nature. The 15-foot fiberglass taco in Albuquerque fell into disrepair before getting hauled off. The same fate eventually befell the Bunion Derby Uniroyal Gal in Pratt, Kansas. Quirky curios like the Cheeto get their grip on the imagination in part because they won’t be around forever.

Diehard roadside America fans know the key is to catch these oddities before the inevitable decay. When word got out that Paul Bunyan’s hot dog stand in Bordentown, NJ was shutting down in 2020, fans flocked for one last selfie with the giant frankfurter. Now it’s just a memory.

That’s why you’ve got to seize the day when it comes to getting your snapshot with the mammoth Cheeto. Don’t put it off until your next road trip and risk missing your chance. One day soon that 25-foot cheese curl could be hauled off, leaving only a grease stain behind.

For a must-have memorabilia photo, get up close to the Cheeto’s pock-marked surface, weathered by the elements. Poke your head through the hole in its middle like you’re about to take a big crunchy bite. Pose next to the sculpture’s steel rebar bones, exposed through cracked fiberglass. The tattered, timeworn Cheeto is somehow even more lovable.

But part of the fun is also watching the giant snack evolve over time. Roadside fans track the Cheeto’s gradual deterioration through photos posted online. The chronological crumbs document the nibbling away by rain, sun, and erosion. It’s become a digital scrapbook of people saying “I was here” before the sculpture crumbled away.

Maybe one day someone will snap an image of the giant Cheeto broken in half by a storm, like the famous Teetering Rock split in two. When quirky roadside giants finally topple, they gain a second life through images shared online.