‘Big Things Small Town’ Leads Visitors to Casey, Ill.

CASEY, Ill.—The clanging of a wind chime is widely heard when people walk along Main Street in Casey, Illinois. Even the slightest breeze will spread the sound.

Located two hours east of St. Louis and two hours west of Indianapolis, Casey is a town of 2,400 residents that holds 12 Guinness World Records for oversized objects. More than 20 other big sculptures fill the blocks around them.

The late Jim Bolin—the man who built them, and the visionary of what is known as Big Things Small Town—started with the wind chime and a hope to breathe life back into his hometown.

“We took a lot of vacations when the kids were younger, and traveled a lot of different places,” Bolin stated in a video posted on the Big Things Small Town website. “My wife and my daughter just fell in love with this little tea shop they just thought was great. My daughter was in high school at that time. She convinced her grandma and her mom that, yeah, that’s what we need to do in Casey.”

“I said, ‘Well, let’s do this,'” Bolin said in the video. “And I was just thinking, ‘What can we do to draw people in off the interstate?’”

Bolin Enterprises provides pipeline and tank maintenance, inspection, and repair services. Bolin and his crew used pipes to create the World’s Largest Wind Chime, which is located on East Main Street next to the former tea shop that is now a restaurant.

They started construction on it in 2009 and finished in 2011.

The wind chime is 56 feet tall. Five metal tubes hang from the top, with the longest one stretching 42 feet. It weighs 16,932 pounds. Visitors can walk up, grab a rope, and set the chimes swinging.

Once the wind chime was installed, Bolin placed signs along Interstate 70, about a five-minute drive from Casey. It was not long before he noticed lots of cars with out-of-state license plates.

What started as just a “one-time project” became a theme in Casey that brought visitors and attention to the town. Leaders and residents in the community are committed to preserving that legacy, since Bolin died on Jan. 27 from injuries he sustained in a snowmobiling accident.

In a Facebook post, Bolin Enterprises said the company’s vice president “was widely known as a man of deep faith, unwavering devotion to his family, and genuine friendship to all who knew him.”

“He lived those values every single day,” the post states.

“Before the big things, our downtown was completely empty,” said Tom Daughhetee, Casey’s economic development director. “It’s a pretty good thing to be known for, and you just see all these people gawking and smiles on their faces and kids running around and getting their picture taken.”

Bolin had estimated that between 1,000 and 2,000 people stop in Casey every week to see the attractions.

Casey has emerged as a popular stop along the old National Road, which in Illinois stretches 164 miles from Marshall through Casey to East St. Louis and is mirrored by U.S. Route 40 and I-70.

Like many small towns along the original National Road, Casey saw a decline in traffic when I-70 was constructed.

Bolin created Big Things Small Town to figuratively return Casey to the map.

Born and raised in Casey, he loved the town and said it was “like a Hallmark movie.”

“It’s not really the dirt under our feet,” Bolin said. “It’s the people. When you go uptown, everybody knows each other. I like the sports experience at our schools. I like the county experience with the festivals that we have.”

Big Things Small Town brings visitors to Casey, and the sense of community reflecting a simpler time decades ago adds to the appeal, Bolin said.

“His whole focus was making Casey a bigger and better place,” Mayor of Casey Mike Nichols said. “That legacy will live on forever.”

When constructing new sculptures, Bolin considered unique spots he wanted visitors to discover in Casey.

The World’s Largest Barbershop Pole is located at Tina’s Barber Shop in the center of downtown.

“The barbershop in Casey is a perfect example of a traditional small-town icon,” the description on the Big Things Small Town website reads. “It’s likely you’ve had your hair cut by Tina or one of the barbers who have owned the shop over the years.”

Whisk and Lollie’s Bakery and Candy Shoppe, which occupies a 19th-century building along an old railroad, houses the World’s Largest Wooden Shoes.

Each shoe weighs about 2,500 pounds. A photo shows 15 people standing inside one of the shoes. Coins tossed into the clogs are donated to a fund that promotes and beautifies Casey.

Directly across the street from the wind chime is the World’s Largest Rocking Chair.

It stands about 56 feet tall, stretches nearly 33 feet wide, and weighs 46,200 pounds.

Bolin’s crew built it mostly from recycled wood telephone poles and metal pipes, and they carved a dove and olive branch into the headrest. The chair actually rocks.

A block west of downtown stands a mailbox measuring 5,743 cubic feet.

It has a built-in stairway inside the post stand so that visitors can climb up to the box and explore the interior’s mail history museum. A giant flag can be raised up and down when mail is deposited.

“Kids really like it for sending their letters out to Santa Claus,” Bolin said. “You know, they think if it goes out of a big mailbox, maybe they’ll get some big gifts. People come and mail their wedding invitations out of it, because when the people receive it, it’ll be stamped, ‘Mailed from the world’s largest mailbox.'”

Some of the best stops in Casey are not world record holders.

The giant pencil downtown rises high above the street. It is a favorite photo stop for visitors.

At the Casey Country Club, the World’s Largest Golf Tee stands near the start of the nine-hole course.

The tee inspired Bolin to debut the World’s Largest Golf Driver, made from an old aluminum light pole and persimmon wood. It is displayed near the intersection of Main Street and Central Avenue.

The World’s Largest Pitchfork, at Richards Farm Restaurant, is made of reclaimed wood and old streetlight parts.

There is also the World’s Largest Teeter Totter, a giant hanging birdcage, and a mammoth mousetrap.

The World’s Largest Truck Key is a scaled-up copy of Bolin’s own Chevy truck key.

“The bird cage was really fun to build,” Bolin said. “People like to see how many things they can stuff in it. It’s fun to come up here and see families. Just have a ball with it.

“If you go down Main Street, you’ll see a super-sized yardstick. You go back west, you’ll come to a large pencil. It was built from just scraps from the birdcage. If you go down the street, you’ll come to a Minion. It’s made out of a propane tank, but it stands about 10 feet tall. The kids just love it.”

Every “big thing” in Casey is accompanied by a Bible verse. The World’s Largest Wind Chime is adorned with faith symbols.

Bolin said that, as a Christ follower, it was important to proclaim his faith. He demonstrated that by adding a Bible verse to all of the big things throughout Casey.

His faith was involved from the beginning of Big Things Small Town.

“I’m a man of faith, and I wanted the wind chime to point people to God,” Bolin said. “The welder who worked on it used religious symbols—the ichthus and the Star of David—for the braces that stabilize it. My wife wanted to include a piece of Scripture, and we chose Romans 1:16.”

Nichols said, “That was one of the things that propelled [Bolin] forward; he believed God put him here on Earth to serve others.”

Eddie Hammond, pastor of a Casey church, said: “That was so important to him to put that out there. He wanted people to know that he was believer, and he wanted people to be believers as well.”

Nichols said Bolin outlined a plan for Bolin Enterprises to follow in the event that he died. Bolin is survived by his wife, Diane, two children, and three grandchildren.

A foundation has been created in Bolin’s name to continue funding for Big Things Small Town.

Bolin was a man who believed that small towns could become destinations, with some creative thought.

“I was just going to build one item to create traffic and go from there,” he said. “I think small towns, the whole concept is changing. I think small towns, they can think outside the box. Create a place to go. It’s all about a destination.

“If somebody tells you that it’s crazy to build a 56-foot rocking chair, don’t listen because it will change the world some way. Somehow, it’ll change the situation around you.”