Bull (Big Bruce)

Chesley, Ontario, Canada

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

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Big Bruce is a fibreglass bull, 4.5 metres tall and 6 metres long, outside the township offices in Chesley, Ontario, according to 2021 reports. Farmtario reports that a Bruce County warden found him in the early 1970s and that the warden convinced the Bruce County Cattlemen's Association to take on the $3,000 price, and he made his debut at the 1976 International Plowing Match. Farmtario reports he was declared Ontario's Greatest Roadside Attraction for 2021 after TVO's showdown.

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Bull (Big Bruce)

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Site-level location · 44.3117° N, 81.0995° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Big Bruce is a fibreglass bull in Chesley, Ontario, that made his debut at the 1976 International Plowing Match in Bruce County and now stands outside the township offices. TVO and Farmtario both describe him as four and a half metres tall and six metres long.

According to Farmtario's September 2021 article, he caught the eye of Harvey Davis, a beef farmer and Bruce County warden in the early 1970s; TVO says Davis was travelling somewhere in the United States when he found him. Farmtario says Davis convinced the Bruce County Cattlemen's Association (now Bruce County Beef Farmers) to put up the $3,000 price tag, and that Bruce made his debut during the 1976 International Plowing Match. Afterwards, Farmtario says, he went on the road to attend fall fairs, Christmas parades and plowing matches.

Farmtario says that after Davis died in 1980, Big Bruce came off the road to stand sentry at the township offices. TVO says he stands outside the township offices on the northern edge of Chesley, with a plaque right beside him. TVO quotes Davis's son Mark, deputy mayor of Arran-Elderslie, saying the statue had just been given a paint job that year.

In 2021 Farmtario reported that Big Bruce was declared Ontario's Greatest Roadside Attraction in TVO's Roadside Attraction Showdown.

Neither article gives a builder or a date of manufacture for the bull, and neither states admission, hours or access rules. Both date from 2021, so his present condition is not confirmed by a newer source.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

Stands outside the township offices on the northern edge of Chesley, with a plaque beside it (TVO, 30 July 2021). Admission, hours and access arrangements are not stated in the sources read.

ACCESS

Admission, hours and any access rules are not stated by the sources read; both articles are from 2021.

COMMUNITY

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WHAT'S NEXT

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