Tacky Tourist Photos

SUBMITTED BY: Marty Karlon   LOCATION: Cape Cod, Massachusetts (2010)

Sharing a first name with a concrete bear is no guarantee he won’t attack you.

(Marty Karlon is a seasoned journalist and communication professional with a soft spot for community theater and a low tolerance for cookie-cutter press releases).

(Click image to see Dave's full goofy facial expression)

SUBMITTED BY: David H.  LOCATION: Boston, Massachusetts (2012)

Fenway Park is strangely not a happy place these days, but tongue-wagging Dave is having more fun than a dog hanging his head out the car window!

Any other MLB ballparks have these photoboards?

The Russian Icebreaker ship, the Kapitan Khlebnikov, apparently is still in love with the Soviet brand.

SUBMITTED BY: Christy Day   LOCATION: Ross Sea, Antarctica (2005)

The world of travelers can be divided into two distinct groups: Those who can’t get to the South Pole fast enough for some old-school frostbite and those who say ‘No way, I’d rather spend my $10K at Disney!”

Traveling by Russian icebreaker, for which she occasionally served as the emergency brake, Christy took a “Wonders of the Ross Sea” tour of Antarctica — visiting icebergs, ice fields, ice-clogged waters and historical huts (from explorers Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton) surrounded by ice.

During her expedition, she also snooped around McMurdo Station (America’s science research facility) and introduced herself to various penguin colonies.

The birds are nonplussed by the tourist paparazzi.

(Christy Day, of Amherst, NH, seeks to travel to the farthest reaches of the earth.  She teaches English at Salem State University in Massachusetts.)

BOGGED DOWN -- Channeling the noble cranberry farmer during the Nantucket Cranberry Festival (for more information on the annual Cranfest, click the picture).

SUBMITTED BY: David Meerman Scott LOCATION: Nantucket, Massachusetts (2011)

The big question unanswered at the Nantucket Cranberry Festival: What’s underneath the red tide?

Do cranberry farmers swish around the wet bogs in their bare feet, giving the juice that extra special bite?

(Marketing strategist David Meerman Scott, who blogs at Web Ink Now, most recently scouted out Swedish celebrity shrines for Tacky Tourist Photos).

Caged Bear -- The Boston Ballet Nutcracker mascot mingles with a young fan at an unlikely venue -- Fenway Park. (Click the pic to learn more about the bear's natural habitat).

SUBMITTED BY: Ari G.   LOCATION: Boston, Massachusetts (2011)

A more snooty mascot might have ignored the fans trapped behind home plate at Fenway Park — or at least have pretended not to hear anything through those thick furry ears.

But not the Nutcracker Bear. He (or she) had time to spread some holiday cheer with the masses in addition to mingling with celebrity friends.

Boston Ballet stars get ready for promotional first pitch ceremonies before the Boston Red Sox - Tampa Bay Rays game.

Oh, and hats off to the classy Red Sox usher who lent his sports jacket to the shivering ballerina. Who says that chivalry is dead in Major League Baseball?

The Nutcracker soldier has the craziest hair in Fenway Park since Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez.

Vermont's largest Basin Harbor Adirondack Chair resides on Lake Champlain. (Click the picture to learn how BHC chairs differ from regular Adirondacks).

SUBMITTED BY: Ursula K.   LOCATION: Lake Champlain, Vermont (2011)

Oh yes, there’s been a century-long battle to claim the World’s Largest Chair, a virtual arms race amongst fake oversized furniture makers.  Gardner, Massachusetts, aka “The Chair City,” has been making grown tourists look like Munchkins since at least 1910, based on this vintage postcard.

According to Roadside America, there are rival World’s Biggest Chairs in North Carolina, Tennessee, New York, Alabama, Mississippi and Italy.

But in Vermont, this Adirondack chair is Queen, serving as the perfect billboard to sell “mini” ones that will better fit your tush.

(Ursula K. is a prolific Tacky Tourist Photos contributor with a passion for fiberglass cows).

Youngest Red Sox Player in History: Some of the best fan photo-ops are underneath the stands at Fenway Park.

SUBMITTED BY: Ari Garnick  LOCATION: Boston, Massachusetts (2011)

If your fourth grade son were chosen in the Major League Draft, would you insist that he finish his elementary school education?

With the way that John Lackey, Tim Wakefield, John Lester, Josh Beckett and Andrew Miller have been pitching, the Sox desperately need to do some creative scouting.

(Ari Garnick is a prolific TTP contributor who recently devoured the World’s Largest Box of Popcorn).

Total cocoon immersion at The Butterfly Place in Westford, Mass. (Click pic for more details)

SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Garnick and Sarah Ekbatani   LOCATION: Westford, Massachusetts (2010)

There’s no better way to impress the ladies than to engage in some old-fashioned butterfly role play.

(Kyle Garnick and Sarah Ekbatani are hip college students at the University of New Hampshire).

Belting out the classics with Sonny and Cher.

SUBMITTED BY: Gerry Cronin   LOCATION: Canobie Lake Park, Salem, NH (2011)

Sonny & Cher, icons of cheesy 1970s entertainment, would be horrified by how they are being immortalized in a New Hampshire amusement park.

The late Congressman Bono looks like one of those overstuffed pantyhose puppets.

U.S. Rep. Sonny Bono (R-Calif).

And Cher’s hair looks like vinyl siding. No amount of plastic surgery could defame her more.

I Got You Babe? Click on the image to see the full horror.

Hey Donny & Marie, aren’t you glad you’re not enshrined in the Canobie Lake Music Hall of Fame?

(Gerry Cronin is a Massachusetts utility company worker with a soft spot for bell bottoms and tight plaster turtlenecks.)

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SUBMITTED BY: Alexandra, Brian and Chloe Pecci   LOCATION: Salem, Massachusetts (2010)

TV Land commissioned a statue of the most gorgeous witch of all time, Elizabeth Montgomery, to celebrate the pop cultural significance of the 1960s comedy “Bewitched.”

The statue is controversial, even attracting the ire of vandals, because some say it is insensitive to mix a silly TV show with the serious horrors of the Salem Witch Trials.  We here at Tacky Tourist Photos would argue that those critics would have a point if the city was not already marketing itself as “The Witch City,” selling out its history as the ultimate Halloween party favor.

Some Bewitched fans have suggested that the TV Land network-sponsored statue would have been more appropriately placed in Westport, Connecticut, the suburb where Samantha and Darrin Stephens lived on the show.

Controversy aside, Alexandra Pecci, author of a new travel guide about Salem, likes the statue.

“Bewitched was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid, and I always thought Darrin should lighten up!,” she says.  “Or better yet, spunky Samantha should have found a guy who accepted her talents!”

Pecci is referring to the countless squabbles between Darrin and Samantha about her not using her powers and trying to act like a “normal” housewife. She does not take into account the constant meddling and mental abuse of Darrin’s mother-in-law, Endora, who is always turning him into a frog.

TV Land has also commissioned or financially contributed to other pop culture shrines, including ones to:

* Fonzie (Henry Winkler) from “Happy Days” in Milwaukee.
* Mary Richards from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in Minneapolis.
* Andy (Andy Griffith) and Opie (Ron Howard) from “The Andy Griffith Show” in Raleigh, N.C.
* Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason) from “The Honeymooners” in Manhattan.
* Bob Newhart in Chicago.

When the Mary Tyler Moore statue was dedicated in 2001, the actress tossed her hat in the air for countless photographers. About 1,000 Mary Richards-style hats were given out to the crowd to simultaneously toss them in the ultimate Tacky Tourist Photo-op. But no one threw the hats because they wanted to save them as souvenirs.

Astoundingly, the Mary Tyler Moore statue is considered controversial, too.

If you’ve posed with any of these TV Land statues, we’d love to hear from you!

(Alexandra Pecci is author of “Salem: A Guide to America’ Bewitching City,” now available at Amazon.com.)

Hey baby, let me tell you about the time that I invented the lightning rod!

SUBMITTED BY: Ursula K. LOCATION: Boston, Massachusetts (2010)

At least in Boston or Philadelphia, dressing like Ben Franklin makes you an instant chick magnet.

"I will NOT let your people go!"

SUBMITTED BY: Darren G.   LOCATION: Boston, Massachusetts  (2010)

You’d also go ballistic if all your buddies were entombed in gold and you got stuck with the LEGO funeral.

(ALSO SEE: “Top of the Pyramid: Egyptian Cheerleading Tryouts!“)

Historic macaroni steps away from Boston's Freedom Trail

SUBMITTED BY: Peter K. LOCATION: Boston, Massachusetts (2010)

When you’re tracing the footsteps of Paul Revere, Ben Franklin, Sam Adams and John Hancock, seeing a giant Mac & Cheese noodle just seems natural. Looks like it’s now the official comfort food of the American Revolution.

And, also the official comfort food of the Windy City:

Stretching the pasta love at Chicago's Navy Pier

SUBMITTED BY: Wendi Steiner Traxler LOCATION: Chicago, Illinois (2010)

Kudos’ to Wendi’s super-flexible daughter Allison for being more bendable than rubbery, overcooked pasta!

An ice cream stand in Woods Hole, the famous Cape Cod oceanographic research community.

SUBMITTED BY: Brian Henderson   LOCATION: Woods Hole, Massachusetts (2010)

We admire Brian’s dedication and overall flexibility. Most contributors would look at the height of the lobster claw and say, “Screw it, my leg doesn’t bend that way!”

(Photojournalist Brian Henderson is one of Tacky Tourist Photo’s most prolific contributors. Check out his enthusiasm about the Equator, his monster-like appetite for bridges and his phenomenal ability to mimic the dance moves of statues!)

When was the last time you saw a marathon runner smile?

SUBMITTED BY: Brian Henderson  LOCATION: Boston, Massachusetts (2010)

In the proud tradition of Boston Marathon legend Rosie Ruiz, who took the subway to the finish line, Brian shows what running 26 miles would look like if you didn’t actually have to do the running.

When was the last time you saw a happy runner?

(Photojournalist Brian Henderson, a frequent contributor to Tacky Tourist Photos, also likes to pretend he’s Godzilla).