In the shadow of the giant basket

There is a town, just east of Columbus, a quaint little place, where people sit on their stoops and greet you as you walk by... where the Church is covered in vines and its parking lot is full on a Sunday afternoon... where main street sees people in their gym shorts--couples, moms and sons, groups of gossiping women--taking a stroll through the center of town.

But there is something different about this little Anytown, USA. Look up, at the decorative banners hanging from every telephone pole. Take a closer look at the bronze statue of children outside the library. And read at the signs outside every store on this quaint little street::
Dresden, Ohio, is all about baskets. Old baskets, new baskets - little baskets, and giant baskets.

A short drive away from the basket-y downtown is this, the World's Largest Basket. The huge basket replica is actually a 7-story office building (taller if you count the handle) which serves as the headquarters for the Longaberger basket company.

Longaberger Baskets started over 100 years ago in Dresden, which can't stop celebrating its basket-y heritage. In fact, this area also is home to the world's largest apple basket (which does not contain even a single floor of offices), and apparently other large baskets. According to the internets, the founder of Longaberger baskets wanted all of the company's buildings to be basket-shaped, but after he died his daughters took over and vetoed those plans.

The world's largest basket takes its shape from the best-selling of the company's products. It would, appropriately, be a good place to bring a picnic - it has one of those lawns that is obviously manicured mostly to be looked at, but is quite comfortable to sit on as well. The building is not incredibly well-maintained; the rivets are rusting and the paint on the 150-ton handles is chipping - but it can still strike awe into the hearts of any who are relatively easily awe-strucken.

My visit to basket country was something special. Not only did we get to experience the majesty of novelty architecture; we also ate some potato skins at a restaurant with place mats that advertised an upcoming county fair, and included the schedule of near-daily tractor pulls. Would that I could make this stuff up.

(more about Longaberger baskets on wikipedia)