World’s Largest Potato Masher
Plover, Wisconsin is famous for potatoes. So it’s no surprise that the rural community is home to the World’s Largest Potato Masher. On second thought, maybe that is a little surprising.
How large is the World’s Largest Potato Masher? The giant utensil stands 38′ 11″ tall — something like 26 times the size of your kitchen-variety potato masher — and tips the scales at 7,500 pounds. That’s pretty large.
It’s so large, in fact, that you can see it rising up from the planted fields, its polished metal mashing head gleaming in the sunshine, as you look to the east while driving on Interstate 39.
Although the World’s Largest Potato Masher seems like a random roadside attraction offering nothing more than an enticing opportunity for selfies, it’s more than that.
The giant sculpture is an iconic symbol that celebrates this Wisconsin community’s role in the development of Wisconsin agriculture.
A Homegrown Potato Legacy
Even if you’ve never heard of the Plover potato fields, it’s highly likely that you’ve enjoyed a little of the region’s output — and likely without even knowing it.
The Pavelski family has been farming potatoes in Plover since 1873. Today, the fifth-generation of Pavelskis own Heartland Farms, an agricultural powerhouse that grows and harvests potatoes on 24,000 acres in Central Wisconsin.
They ship potatoes all over the United States and the world, but one of their biggest customers is Frito-Lay, who turn the Pavelski-raised spuds into bags of Lay’s potato chips.
To honor their potato farming legacy — and to educate people on how food gets from the farm to the table — the Pavelski family, through the Farming for the Future Foundation (the family’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit), opened the Food + Farm Exploration Center just on the edge of the Plover village border.
To draw attention to both the importance of the potato to the region and the farming family’s mission of agricultural education, they erected the World’s Largest Potato Masher just outside the facility on May 19, 2023.
Photo from the author’s collection.
Food + Farm Exploration Center
Most people don’t really understand everything that goes into bringing food from the fields to their dinner tables.
The main mission of the the Food + Farm Exploration Center — a 50,000 square-foot science and technology exploratorium and children’s museum — is to change that.
The entire facility is set up to educate the public on how a farm works and show that “food is grown, not made”.
Once inside the center, visitors learn about agriculture, both its history and some of the latest cutting-edge innovations, through a series of hands-on displays and kiosks.
The facility offers numerous STEM-oriented exhibits and information stations explaining all aspects of the agricultural supply chain. The facility shows the entire farming process from planting to harvesting all the way to sorting, canning, transporting, and even selling to the consumer.
Photo from the author’s collection.
More than big machines
While the Food + Farm Exploration Center mainly focuses on large-scale agriculture of the type employed by the Pavelski family’s Heartland Farms, there are also displays explaining the role of pollinators, describing how farmers manage pests, and demonstrating the importance of healthy soil and clean water.
The center, which opened to the public on December 2, 2023 after just over a 18 months of construction, also includes an agricultural-themed makerspace, a kitchen lab, and a meeting room that’s ideal for children’s birthday parties. They even have cushions shaped like giant potatoes you can sit on.
In the spring and summer months, you can venture outside and explore four acres of test fields to observe modern agricultural practices in action.
The Food + Farm Exploration Center, designed by museum-focused design studio Gyroscope in Oakland, California, sits on 24 acres of land. This plot was donated to the Farming for the Future Foundation by Worzella & Sons, Inc., another multi-generation farming family located in Plover. If you’ve ever had vegetables from Del Monte, you’ve likely eaten something the Worzella family has grown.
Missed Opportunities
The Food + Farm Exploration Center is a lot of fun to explore, but we were ultimately disappointed that you can’t buy replica potato mashers (or potato masher keychains or a even a plushie potato masher) at the gift shop.
We were also disappointed in the lack of interesting Lay’s Potato Chips. With the Pavelski farm’s connection to Frito-Lay (and the large presence of Lay’s throughout the center), it would make sense to have some of Lay’s harder-to-find flavors for sale in the gift shop or at the site’s restaurant, the Colorful Plate Café. But, alas, such is not the case.
But aside from these small oversights, the Food + Farm Exploration Center offers visitors an engaging experience that offers a fun way to learn about how food makes its way from the fields to the grocery store.
At the time of our visit, admission to the Food + Farm Exploration Center was $12 for adults, $11 for seniors (60+), $8 for kids 12-17, and $6 for kids 3-11. Kids under 3 are free.
But you can visit the World’s Largest Potato Masher for free.
Header image: The World’s Largest Potato Masher at the Food + Farm Exploration Center. Photo from the author’s collection.
The World’s Largest Potato Masher and the Food + Farm Exploration Center
- 3400 Innovation Dr, Plover, WI
- Google Maps: 44.444826, -89.521940 [ Google Maps ]
- what3words: ///demotion.steaming.galas
- Website: Food + Farm Exploration Center
- Food + Farm Exploration Center on Facebook
- Hours of Operation: Tuesday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:40 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
