World's Largest Smokey the Bear

The Smokey Bear in International Falls is 26 feet tall, stands in a city park, and until 2021 had a wardrobe. According to the local news site ifalls.news, it was constructed and unveiled in 1954 as a project of Koochiching County’s Keep Minnesota Green Committee, flanked by two bear cubs. MSP Magazine gives the date as 13 October 1954, the cost as $3,800 raised by hundreds of locals, and the height as 31 feet counting its base. It says a nearby forest ranger proposed the idea.

Residents began dressing Smokey in the 1980s, MPR News reported, starting with a 25-foot-long knitted scarf, giant mittens and earmuffs. Later outfits included a fishing vest in summer and blaze-orange clothing in the fall, MSP Magazine says. In October 2021 the city council voted 4 to 0 to allow only his blue jeans, belt, buckle and campaign hat, with his shovel in hand. The mayor said in 2021 that the city had recently spent $30,000 restoring the statue, and that officials of other Minnesota towns with famous statues thought dressing it up was “kind of crazy”. MPR notes that the U.S. Forest Service has guidelines for use of Smokey’s likeness, and a council member said the Service does not want his importance degraded.