Random Small Towns With Weirdest Claims To Fame (20 items)

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  (#6) Austin

  • Minnesota, USA

  Are you or someone you know obsessed with SPAM, that inexpensive tinned meat product that's been feeding people since 1937? If so, you need to go to Austin, MN. Here you'll find a museum, paid for by Hormel, dedicated to all things SPAM. 

  You'll learn how SPAM was created, how it's manufactured, and you can even find a history of the cans that have housed SPAM over the decades. If you'd like to spice up your recipes, you can also attend an on-site cooking demonstration at "Chez SPAM." 
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  (#3) Marfa

  • Texas, USA

  Marfa, a town so entrenched in West Texas it's almost Mexico, became an instant art hub in 2005 when artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset installed a replica Prada store along Highway 90. With the help of the Art Production Fund, a group helping to create public art, the store was built with the hope it would slowly fall apart in the middle of the Texas desert. 

  At the time, Yvonne Force Villareal of the Art Production Fund told the New York Times, "If someone spray-paints graffiti or a cowboy decides to use it as target practice or maybe a mouse or a muskrat makes a home in it, 50 years from now it will be a ruin that is a reflection of the time it was made." However, the duo have had to maintain a semblance of upkeep due to overzealous vandals, and at least one thief. 
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  (#18) Sac City, IA: The Barn Quilt Capital Of the World

  Barn quilts are possibly the most underappreciated form of quilt to come out of America in the 20th century. These quilts are hung from the sides of barns like Jolly Rogers atop pirate ships, and while the practice began in Ohio, the barn quilting hot spot is actually in Sac City, IA. The entire county is full of barn quilts ranging in shapes and sizes, which makes for a truly interesting drive for any quilt-heads out there. 

  There are more than 150 barn quilts throughout the county. If you're afraid of getting lost on the trip through quilt country, there's a year-round motor coach tour of the area. 
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  (#12) Lily Dale, NY: The World's Largest Center For The Religion Of Spiritualism

  Most towns have at least one psychic or tarot card reader, but Lily Dale, NY, is knee-deep in mediums, shamans, psychics, clairvoyants, and the like. Spiritualists descended on the town in the late 19th century, and even though the population is only about 200, 22,000 visitors wanting to commune with the dead make their way to the town every summer.

  Susan Glasier, executive director of the Lily Dale Assembly, told the Huffington Post, "People come here for a lot of reasons. They come for the private readings, the workshops, or they come just to be. It’s a beautiful place. You don’t have to talk to anybody (while you’re here), but you’ll never meet a stranger."
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  (#8) Mitchell

  • South Dakota, USA

  What's your favorite way to eat corn? On the cob? Creamed? Popped? Whatever kind of corn you fancy, there's a monument to the most versatile vegetable on Earth, but you have to go to South Dakota to find it. The Corn Palace beckons travelers to Mitchell, where they take a trip through the world of all things corn.

  Every August, the palace hosts the Corn Palace Festival, an annual redecoration of the venue. If you can't make it to South Dakota in the near future, you can always enjoy the Corn Palace's 24/7 Corn Cam.
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  (#9) Montpelier

  • Vermont, USA

  In 1974 in Montpelier, VT, a local businessman wanted to advertise a new set of sneakers he had on sale. So, he set up a contest for the most rotten sneakers in the world at the Montpelier Department of Recreation. What began as a very strange advertising gimmick has turned into a very big deal in the area. 

  In 1988, Odor-Eaters became a sponsor, and in 2014, Ripley's Believe It Or Not took over the day to day of the contest and moved the whole shebang to New York City. Despite big business getting into the smell game, Montpelier will always be the heart of rotten sneaker country. 

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