If you are interested in seeing this attraction close up, click below for detailed instructions to its location! Once you arrive, you can park in the store's parking lot and walk to the statue.

Directions to the Site!

Formerly known as 'Mr. Furnace', the Allanburg Giant is located off of Highway 20 in Thorold, and can be seen from Highway 406 because of its massive size and the vibrant pink shirt he wears. He is called the Allanburg Giant because he is located in the little community of Allanburg between Fonthill and Niagara Falls. Although small, Allanburg is located near heavily-travelled Highway 20, Highway 406, and the Welland Canal, which allows the Allanburg Giant to be seen by many different travellers.

In previous years, this statue was owned by a heating and cooling company and was known as 'Mr. Furnace.' At that time, the 20-foot tall giant could be seen wearing a white shirt with black pants, and he had full arms with his hands extended in front of him. In the mid 2000s, his hands were removed and the sign was added. After the store was sold to an auction house called Rosehill Direct in 2015, the giant received a makeover, and is now seen wearing a bright pink shirt with white pants.

Another name for this type of towering statue is 'Muffler Man', because it is one of many large, moulded fiberglass statues found across North America that were used as advertising icons for muffler repair shops. The first few statues documented were holding giant mufflers, hence the name 'Muffler Man.' The mould for these statues was originally made in the early 1960s by a man named Bob Prewitt, but after Steve Dashew bought the company in 1963, he made hundreds of variations of these giant statues. It is likely that the Allanburg Giant was made by this same company, but there are a few significant differences. Firstly, Dashew's statues had their left hand facing downward, as if holding something, while the Allanburg giant originally had both hands facing up. More noticeably, the head of the giant is quite different from the American statues, and this head model has only been seen in Canada. Although the statue's extended history is a mystery, it is still a fascinating site to contemplate.

Rosehill Direct is a factory store that sells appliances, mattresses, furniture, home decor and more. They are also an auction store that sells a wide variety of new, scratch and dent, surplus, seconds, and gently used merchandise. They have four stores that are located in Burlington, Brantford, Fort Erie and Thorold / Pelham, the latter being the site of the Allanburg Giant. Visit their website here!

Bywater, R. (2015, June 1). Fonthill, ON, Canada - Muffler Man (Formerly Mr. Furnace). RoadsideAmerica. Retrieved November 5, 2021, from https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/7548.

Fonthill, Ontario, Canada: Muffler Man (formerly Mr. Furnace). 2015. Roadside America - your guide to offbeat tourist attractions. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/7548.

International fiberglass statues: Roadsidearchitecture.com. International Fiberglass Statues | RoadsideArchitecture.com. (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2021, from https://roadarch.com/giants/if.html

"Muffler Man." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Oct. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muffler_man.