
A specially designed semi truck hauled a six ton potato sculpture to Pittsburgh this week, where it now sits awaiting the big St. Patrick’s Day parade.
The semi truck, dubbed “The Big Idaho Potato Truck” arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Thursday, March 15th and will be parked in the Home Depot parking lot on North Highland Avenue until Saturday morning, when the St. Patrick’s Day parade is planned to start.
The massive potato sculpture is made from steel, concrete, and plywood, and was originally constructed to celebrate the Idaho Potato Commission’s 75th anniversary back in 2012. Since then, the giant sculpture has been used to promote Idaho potatoes across the country and is especially popular around St. Patrick’s Day.
“I saw it online, and thought, ‘I need this thing for our parade,” said parade Chairman Mac McCafferty to Trib Live News.
“They told me 12 cities applied, including all the big ones — New York, Chicago, Boston — and they decided to come [bring the potato] to Pittsburgh,” he said.
The semi truck pulling the enormous 28 feet long, 12 feet wide, 11.5 feet high, 12,130 pound potato sculpture has a trailer specially designed for hauling the giant spud across the country, which features a giant potato sized hole, complete with railings and chains to prevent the potato from rolling and big red signs on either side of the sculpture, which advertise Idaho potatoes.
The giant potato can be seen in the Pittsburgh St. Patrick’s Day parade on Saturday, March 17th at 10:00 a.m. at Liberty Avenue and 11th Street.