Big Vic voyageur

Ranier, Minnesota, United States

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

Big Vic is a fiberglass voyageur statue about 25 feet tall beside the town sign at the entrance to Ranier, Minnesota. Landowner Vic Davis had it made in 1980 to protest Voyageurs National Park; it was later moved from Little Cranberry Island to Ranier.

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Big Vic voyageur

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48.60933° N, 93.34862° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Few roadside giants began as an act of protest, but Big Vic did. The 25-foot fiberglass voyageur stands next to the Ranier town sign, near Voyageurs National Park, which was created in 1975.

Mpls.St.Paul Magazine says some local landowners, led by Vic Davis, felt the National Park Service's purchases were an overreach of government power. According to the Duluth News Tribune, Davis created the statue in 1980 and placed it on Little Cranberry Island, an island he had bought to protest the park. The magazine puts the cost at $12,000 to commission and, originally, another $7,000 to fly it to the island by helicopter. Ifalls.news adds that Davis offered parcels of the island for sale to the public, aiming to inundate the Park Service with paperwork.

The Duluth News Tribune reported on July 13, 1981 that the Park Service had ordered the statue's removal, and later wrote that the Park Service seized it. Davis then had a second, very similar statue made, Big Louie, which he sold to the Lazy Bear Grill in Barnum after the dispute was settled. Both statues now stand in longer-term resting places: Big Vic in Ranier and Big Louie in Barnum.

Accounts differ on how Big Vic reached Ranier. The Duluth News Tribune says the Park Service donated it to the town (spelled "Rainer" in its text), while ifalls.news says the city bought it for $1. Both place it at the entrance to Ranier, and the magazine's April 2026 guide lists it there.

Pull over for a photograph, then head into the park the statue was built to oppose: the magazine suggests woodsy hikes, paddling and fishing there.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

Roadside statue next to the Ranier town sign at the entrance to town, an easy photo stop. Mpls.St.Paul Magazine (April 2026) suggests combining it with Voyageurs National Park for hikes, paddling and fishing; Big Louie, its near-twin, is a separate statue in Barnum.

ACCESS

Outdoors beside the Ranier town sign at the entrance to Ranier, Minnesota, where it can be seen from the road. It is an outdoor roadside statue in a public setting.

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4.6 km away

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