Bemidji's Paul Bunyan & Babe are Minnesota's best roadside attraction: Axios readers
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Minnesota's OG quirky photo ops have dutifully posed for photos in Bemidji since 1937. Photo: Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Axios Twin Cities readers have spoken: Bemidji's Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox sculptures are Minnesota's best roadside attractions, according to our weeklong survey.
The big picture: Paul & Babe have inspired a state full of competing quirky landmarks, but Minnesotans still love the state's original wayside photo op best.
- Of the semifinalists in our bracket, only one, New Ulm's Hermann The German, predates Paul & Babe.
Catch up quick: The Bemidji icons — which won 77% of Thursday's final round vote — have always been huge draws.
- In 1937, Life magazine ran a full-page spread on the statutes, built for the 15,000 attendees of that year's winter carnival. The next year's carnival drew more than 100,000 people, according to the Minnesota Historical Society.
The intrigue: In 1945, the Kodak company declared Paul & Babe the "second-most photographed icon in the nation," behind only Mount Rushmore.
- One wonders where, ya know, the Statue of Liberty landed on that list…
What you said: "There is always someone getting their picture taken with Paul and Babe," one Bemidji poll respondent told Axios.
- They're a "darn fine, well-kept tribute to our state," another Bemidjian wrote.
The other side: We heard it from some readers about attractions that were snubbed from the bracket, including Hopkins' raspberry, Cosmos' water tower and Fergus Falls' Otto the Otter.
- Plus: Vergas' loon statue. "The state bird for gosh sakes!" one reader exclaimed. Fair enough!
Reality check: Paul & Babe likely would've stomped them all if they had a chance.
- The Bemidji tall tales made short work of each competitor in our bracket, winning each round with no less than 69% of the vote.
The bottom line: We tried to make it a fair fight, but this was Paul & Babe's tournament to lose from the beginning.