The Orange Show Monument
2401 Munger Street, Houston, Texas 77023; Tel. 713.926.6368
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Described as a “folk-art environment,” The Orange Show Monument's whimsical design is difficult to classify. But if carnival showboats made out of found objects like wooden wheels and tractor seats ever existed, this would be a meticulously crafted rendition. Judging from the outside, it comes as no surprise that while exploring this outdoor oddity visitors encounter things like a beardless Santa Claus figure, mannequins and handmade signs with fruit-friendly aphorisms such as, “Clown found happiness by drinking cold fresh orange juice every day.” It took more than twenty years for the late Jefferson Davis McKissack to construct this homage to the orange, his favorite fruit, and the end result is a unique, albeit bizarre architectural novelty that consists of a series of mazes, a wishing well and frog pond amongst other features, making it clear why The Orange Show Monument remains one of the most important examples of American folk art to date.
—The Orange Show Monument writeup by Joy Howard
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