🥒 A Pickle in a Santa Hat & a Blooming Water Tower in Fort Smith, AR
A pickle in a Santa hat and a blooming water tower walk into a bar… Well, not quite—but that’s what it felt like when we pulled into Fort Smith, Arkansas, and laid eyes on one of the most delightfully bizarre holiday icons we’d ever seen.
🎄 Dill-Lighted to Meet You
Just outside of Alma, nestled next door in Fort Smith, we found it. The spark that kicked off our obsession with oversized oddities. The moment we realized we could blend our love of Christmas, pickles, and the gloriously absurd into one blog-worthy stop: The World’s Largest Christmas Pickle.
We were visiting Zach’s family in Alma, doing what we always do when we travel—digging through maps for weird roadside finds. And there it was: a giant green pickle, complete with a jolly little Santa hat, just waiting to be adored a few exits over.
Naturally, we told his parents about it like we were sharing a state secret. Their reaction?
“…The Christmas what?”
🧑🎄 Yes, It’s a Thing
Cue the holiday history detour. Naturally, we launched into the legend of the Christmas Pickle… Christmas Pickle (a German-ish tradition that may or may not have originated from marketing mischief), and how this humble ornament was meant to be the last one hidden in the tree. The kid who found it? Got an extra gift—or at least some bragging rights.
They’d never heard of it. So of course we had to go.
And let me tell you—the look on their faces when we rolled up to a giant dill painted with “Christmas Pickle” in script font was absolute holiday gold.
We laughed, posed, and stood awkwardly at its feet, trying to get both our heads and the tip of the pickle in frame (cropping fail: documented). Even the water tower nearby, decked out in hand-painted daisies, vines, and a little bee, felt like it was in on the joke.
🧭 The Town They Thought They Knew
The real kicker? They live just a few miles away and had never seen it. And then we got to pile on the weird:
“Oh, and did you know there’s a Popeye statue in Alma? It’s in a little place called Popeye’s Garden.”
“Also—across from it? A memorial to the deputy who encountered Bonnie & Clyde, The Henry D Humphrey Memorial.”
Spoiler: They had no idea. Living proof that sometimes it takes an out-of-towner with a camera and a Christmas pickle obsession to show you the magic in your own backyard.
🖼️ The World’s Largest Christmas Pickle
Just a stone’s throw from Christmas Winter Wonderland in Fort Smith, this pickle packs more festive flair than a tree full of tinsel. Whether it’s the hand-painted water tower, our slightly off-kilter selfies, or the briny charm of a dill in a Santa hat—this small-but-mighty gallery captures the moment we fully embraced the joy of oddball holiday roadstops.
✏️ Final Thoughts
The photos from this stop might not be perfect (we may have…optimized a little too enthusiastically), but we wouldn’t trade the memory for anything. This post marks the beginning of a beautifully strange blog journey that’s taken us from pickles to peaches to oversized objects we still can’t fully explain.
Would we go back and re-shoot it? Maybe. It’s close enough that another holiday season might demand a round two. But even if we don’t, this guy earned his spot. Cropped, pixelated, and proud.