King’s inukshuk ‘Little Joe’ generates interest on travel site

October 1, 2013 · 0 Comments

Allstone’s giant statue was recognized by a travel website as one of the biggest Ontario tourist creations.

By Mark Pavilons
There are many icons of Canadian culture. And nothing is more closely associated with our aboriginal heritage than the inukshuk.
Found across Canada and chosen as the symbol for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, the inukshuk is a collection of stones assembled to resemble a human shape (in Inuit inukshuk means something that acts for or performs the function of a person).
And King is home to one of the biggest in the world.
Driving along Highway 27 near Schomberg, passers-by will see “Little Joe,” a guardian at Allstone Quarry Products. Towering 11 metres high and weighing 82,000 kilos, Little Joe was the creation of company owner Joe Melo.
The sculpture is constructed from 11 granite slabs trucked in from the Grenville Mountains in the Canadian Shield, boasting some of the oldest rock formations in the world at 1.3 billion years old. These extremely large pieces of granite gneiss were extracted from Allstone’s quarry in Big Wood, Township, north of the French River.
Nothing generates amusement, wonder, and a great photo-op than something really, really big. Ontario’s roadside stops are great places to find everything from huge dinosaurs to giant mosquitoes.
According to the travel website Days Out Ontario, Allstone’s inukshuk is right up there along with Ontario icons the big nickel at Sudbury, the Canada goose at Wawa, Sawyer the Lumberjack in the Algonquin Highlands and the large rocking horse at Innisfil.
The local landmark has been named one of the Best of Ontario on Days Out Ontario (www.daysouontario.com). Days Out Ontario is a trip planning website and travel blog highlighting the best the province has to offer to encourage Ontarians to explore their own backyards.

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