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go to: official county website
 go to: Price County tourism page

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       map provided by Delorme mapping software

 

 

attractions & oddities

resources

 

1

Fred Smith's Concrete Park
 aka Wisconsin Concrete Park

 
location:  Phillips
roadside attraction  /  yard art

      

      

   Click here for MORE PHOTOS
"In 1950, at age 65, Price County native Fred Smith began construction of what is known today as Wisconsin Concrete Park. Smith, a lumberjack, tavern owner, farmer, and dancehall musician, created over 200 figures depicting his vision of the local culture and the world. His work is considered one of America's most unique displays of folk art. Smith built his figures on wooden frames wrapped with mink wire. He covered them with hand-mixed cement and decorated them with a variety of broken glass and found objects."
 - section from Price County Tourism Site

Note:  Fred Smith's Concrete Park has generated the most web links and book references than any other location on this website.  Way to go, Fred.

  east side of Highway 13 on southern edge of Phillips

                   

hours:
(daily)  day or night

Also listed in the Paranormal section below.
web links
 

Friends of Fred Smith
www.friendsoffredsmith.org

Roadside America
www.roadsideamerica.com

Price County Tourism Site
 www.pricecountywi.net

Roadside Architecture
www.agilitynut.com

Wisconsin Historical Society
www.wisconsinhistory.org

Portal Wisconsin
www.portalwisconsin.org

Narrow Larry
www.narrowlarry.com

Kohler Foundation
www.kohlerfoundation.org

John Michael Kohler Arts Center
www.jmkac.org

Portal Wisconsin
(includes 360º panorama video)
portalwisconsin.org

Raw Vision
www.rawvision.com

Thom.org
(13 options) www.thom.org

New Low
www.newlow.org

Interesting Ideas
www.interestingideas.com

Journal Sentinel Online
article "Outside Art Adds Ambience" or (here)

Paul Bunyan Fine Art
www.paulbunyanfineart.com

Grottos of the American Midwest
ww2.lafayette.edu

Dave Nance photography
webpages.charter.net/dnance

Detour Art Atlas
detour.webdatabases.net

Sheboygan Press
article "A 'Sublime' Sampler: Fred Smith"

Art in Wisconsin
www.artinwisconsin.com

Lost Art
www.cfa.ilstu.edu

 
books

 

book:
"Weird Wisconsin"
 by Linda S. Godfrey & Richard D. Hendricks
Barnes & Noble Books (2005)
pages 162 - 167
 buy it at Barnes & Noble.com

book:
 "Wisconsin Curiosities"
 by Michael Feldman and Diana Cook
Globe Pequot Press
(2nd ed., 2004)  pages 44 - 45
 (3rd ed., 2009)  pages 37 - 39
 buy it at
buy it at Barnes & Noble.com

book:
 "Oddball Wisconsin"
 by Jerome Pohlen
 Chicago Review Press, Inc. (2001)
pages 18 - 19
 buy it at buy it at Barnes & Noble.com

book:
"Roadside America"
 by Mike Wilkins & Ken Smith & Doug Kirby
Fireside / Simon & Schuster (2nd ed., 1992)
pages 231 - 232
 buy it at
buy it at Barnes & Noble.com

book:
"The Art of Fred Smith"
 by Lisa Stone and Jim Zanzi
Price County Forestry Department
 buy it at Amazon.com
/

book
"Sacred Spaces and Other Places"
 by Lisa Stone and Jim Zanzi
School of Art Institute of Chicago Press (1993)
pages 104 - 123
 buy it at
buy it at Barnes & Noble.com

book:
"Roadside Americana"
 by Eric Peterson
Publications International, Ltd. (2004)
page 38
 buy it at
buy it at Barnes & Noble.com

book:
"Eccentric America"
 by Jan Friedman
Globe Pequot Press (2nd edit., 2004)
pages 83 - 84
 buy it at
buy it at Barnes & Noble.com

book:
"Midwest Marvels"
 by Eric Dregni
UofM Press (2006)
pages 394 - 396
 buy it at
buy it at Barnes & Noble.com

book:
"Naives and Visionaries"
 Walker Art Center / E.P. Dutton (1974)
pages 52 - 59
 buy it at

book:
"Sidetracked in Wisconsin"
 by Mary Bergin
Itchy Cat Press (2006)
pages 37 - 39
 buy it at
buy it at Barnes & Noble.com

book:
"Badger Bars & Tavern Tales"
 by Bill Moen, Doug Davis
The Guest Cottage Inc. (2003)
page 139
 buy it at
buy it at Barnes & Noble.com

book:
"Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations"
 by Randy Mason, Mike Murphy, and Don Mayberger
Kansas City Star Books (2002)
pages 70 - 71
 buy it at
buy it at Barnes & Noble.com

book:
"SUBLIME SPACES & VISIONARY WORLDS: Built Environments of Vernacular Artists"
 by Leslie Umberger, Erika Doss, Ruth DeYoung Kohler, Lisa Stone, and Jane Bianco
Princeton Architectural Press (2006)
view it at: JMKAC
 buy it at Chronicle Books
buy it at Barnes & Noble.com

book:
"Miracles of The Spirit: Folk, Art, and Stories from Wisconsin"
 by Don Krug & Ann Parker
University Press of Mississippi (2005)
pages 222 - 223
 buy it at
buy it at Barnes & Noble.com