Giants of the Prairies

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Giants of the Prairies is a song by the Canadian polka band, the Kubasonics.

It tells the story of the numerous "world's biggest" roadside attractions to be found in Western Canada, especially in small towns populated mostly by Ukrainian Canadians.

Giants of the Prairies In Vegreville, Alberta there's a giant pysanka *, It's the biggest Easter egg that anybody ever saw. The questions folks up there won't answer, even if you beg, "Where the heck's the chicken that laid that giant egg?"

pysanka: A Ukrainian Easter egg

In Komarno, Manitoba, they built a big komar *, It's a really big mosquito, you can see it from afar. Now you might find that strange, a little weird, a bit absurd, Til you realize the mosquito is Manitoba's Provincial bird **

komar: mosquito
- it's not, actually

From the liner notes: "At one time the largest things on the Canadian prairie were grain elevators and the onion domes of Ukrainian churches. Now they are being replaced by a new generation of roadside giants, which we celebrate in this song. Just the tune for planning your next road trip."

In Saskatchewan's Canora, there's a lady mighty fine, She's holding bread and salt, a Ukarainian welcome sign. They thought that giant lady would bring their town some class, Til some tourist parked his Winnebago underneath her...skirt.

In Glendon, Alberta, they pay homage to our food, They don't call it a varennyk *, but some people think they should. Now I really must admit I felt a little like a dork, Wen they took my picture under a big pyrogy on a fork!

varennyk: The Ukrainian word for the filled dumplings also known as perogies, pyrogys, etc.

In the town of Vilna, they've got some giant 'shrooms, Even if you dried them, they'd fill many, many rooms. Now if you want my opinion, I think you'd need a tanker, To truck in enough cream to make a sauce for those pidpen'ky *.

pidpen'ky: wild mushrooms, often served with a cream sauce

In the town of Andrew they've got a giant duck. They had to rent a crane to get that mallard off the truck. Now it hasn't generated the reaction they were hoping, The tourists mostly stop and yell "Nai tebe kachka kopne!" *

Nai tebe kachka kopne: A Ukrainian curse meaning "A pox on you!", but literally translated as "May a duck kick you!"

Now in Mundare, Alberta there's a new totemic sign, For Ukrainian sausage lover's, it's like a sacred shrine. We bow down low before it, we gaze at it in awe, It's a fourteen-metre fiberglass and steel kubasa *.

kubasa: the Ukrainian word for garlic sausage (aka kielbasa in other languages)

Brian Cherwick, the leader of the Kubasonics, has a Ph.D. from the Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies at the University of Manitoba, titled "Polkas on the Prairies: Ukrainian Music and the Construction of Identity". Giants of the Prairies!

(all lyrics by B. Cherwick, SOCAN)

[edit] List of giant roadsite attractions in the prairies

Attraction	Community	Image
World's Largest Blue Heron	Barrhead, Alberta
World's Largest Softball	Chauvin, Alberta
World's Largest Oil Lamp	Donalda, Alberta
World's Largset T-Rex	Drumheller, Alberta
World's Largest Geese	Hanna, Alberta
World's Largest Border Markers	Lloydminister
Battle between Bear and Swan	Swan Hills, Alberta
World's larges Badminton Racket	St. Albert, Alberta
World's larges Beaver	Beaverlodge, Alberta
World's larges Bucking Saddle Bronc and Rider, The Legacy	Ponoka, Alberta
World's larges Chuckwagon	Dewberry, Alberta
World's larges Mallard Duck	Andrew, Alberta
World's larges Mushroom	Vilna, Alberta
World's larges Oil Derrick	Redwater, Alberta
World's larges Piggy Bank	Coleman, Alberta
World's larges Putter	Bow Island, Alberta
World's larges Sundial	Lloydminster
World's tallest teepee	Medicine Hat, Alberta
World's larges Wagon Wheel and Pick	Fort Assiniboine, Alberta
World's larges Western Boot	Edmonton, Alberta
Giant Horse	Irricana, Alberta
David Thompson Monument	Lac La Biche, Alberta
Giant Pumpkin	Smoky Lake, Alberta
Giant perogy	Glendon, Alberta
Giant pysanka	Vegreville, Alberta
Giant potatoes	Vauxhall, Alberta