 |
|
|
|
The owner of Ballina landmark The Big Prawn is asking the local council for permission to demolish the 1989 tourist trap.
Who could possibly be behind this villanous scheme to destroy the town’s much-loved icon? Why, it’s none other than Old Man Pennisi, the guy who runs the haunted crustacean-shaped souvenir shop.
Ever the astute investor, Mr Pennisi knows The Big Turkey when he sees it.
Once council gives the all-clear, the prawn will be detached from its foundations and placed on an oversized barbecue.
Alternatives for the site include a plan to reconstruct the building, this time with a regular-size prawn on top of a gigantic souvenir shop.
Without its best-known landmark, Ballina will fall back on attracting tourists with its fascinating story about one time when Charles Kingsford-Smith visited in like the 1850s or whatever.
Visitors may also be interested to ‘step back in time’ at Old Ballina Town, a life-like recreation of Ballina in 1788, when it didn’t exist.
The idea for a ‘big prawn’ dates from a time when big sculptures of foodstuffs were associated with success. Once the prawn was chosen as a subject, Ballina—meaning “place of many oysters”—seemed like the perfect location.
The Big Prawn is constructed from fibreglass and was caught using nearby Alstonville’s The Big Dip-net.
Do your kids have access to hard-core prawn?
