In the world of cowboys and cowgirls, a belt 50 THE JOURNAL buckle is more than something that keeps their pants from falling down. It's wearable art, proof of an achievement, a glimpse into their lives. A unique buckle can draw admiring, even covetous, looks. Building on that, Julie Roller Weeks of the Abilene Convention and Visitors Bureau rode herd on the notion of crafting the world largest buckle as a tourist attraction for her town. Photo by Jeff Tuttle
THE JOURNAL 51
BUCKLING DOWN BY: BECCY TANNER
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AFTER THE PANDEMIC STOPPED THE FLOW OF TOURISM, ABILENE’S TOURISM DIRECTOR THOUGHT BIG ABOUT AN ATTRACTION THAT COULD HELP RESECURE THE COMMUNITY’S PLACE IN THE TRAVEL LANDSCAPE. THUS, THE WORLD’S LARGEST BELT BUCKLE.
Kansans have a knack for thinking big – world’s largest type of big. Consider, in the pantheon of Kansas big, Cawker City’s ball of twine. Wichita’s acrylic mural on a grain elevator. Goodland’s Van Gogh painting on a mammoth easel, Muscotah’s baseball, Mineral City’s Big Brutus, Wilson’s big Czech egg. And Garden City’s monster hairball.
And it’s a curative for a pandemic that for two years nearly stopped the flow of tourists everywhere, and left a central Kansas tourism director all but alone with time to dream big.
Not just any belt buckle – a purported world’s largest belt buckle – at 19 feet and 10.5 inches wide and 13 feet and 11.25 inches high.
“During COVID, we cut all additional staff, and for two years, I worked at an office of one,” says Julie Roller Weeks, director of the Abilene Convention and Visitors Bureau. “The pandemic greatly affected tourism organizations around the world. … Without overnight stays, the CVB (convention and visitors bureau) didn’t have funding. The staff cuts, paired with reserve funds, allowed us to continue our marketing efforts – but it was tough and depressing.”
It’s pull-off-the-highway-and-snap-a-selfie type of big.
But Roller Weeks never stopped thinking. When there were occasional gatherings around Abilene,
Now comes a giant belt buckle.