Camp Verde is home to the self-proclaimed World’s Largest Kokopelli, a bright yellow flute player rising 32 feet above Highway 260. Built for the old Montezuma Trading Post during the late 1980s, the steel figure weighs about 5½ tons. 08-06
Property owner Lowell Johnson wanted something bold enough to pull travelers off nearby Interstate 17. Local blacksmith Gerry Berg Sr. and his son spent about 45 days welding the giant figure from quarter-inch steel plate.
A speaker was even hidden inside the flute to play Southwestern music across the parking lot. Nothing like a 32-foot musician serenading travelers while they shop for souvenirs.
UPDATE: The trading post has closed and the property has been divided into modern retail spaces, but the freshly painted Kokopelli remains beside the highway. 09-26
Rainbow Rock Shop
Holbrook, AZ Photo courtesy Tony Craig
A colorful herd of dinosaurs stands guard outside the Rainbow Rock Shop along old Route 66 in Holbrook. Brontosauruses, a stegosaurus, a triceratops, and a couple of Tyrannosaurus rexes crowd around the shop, making this one rock store that is pretty hard to drive past without slowing down.
Shop owner Adam Luna built his first brontosaurus in 1986. A welder and all-around handyman, Luna began each dinosaur with a heavy steel skeleton, wrapped it in wire mesh, and covered everything with a concrete outer shell. Perhaps building dinosaurs was easier before anyone had to worry about feathers.
Rainbow Dino
Holbrook, AZ Photo courtesy Larry Glass
Luna spent roughly 20 years adding to his prehistoric family. Some accounts count seven large dinosaurs, while others include more than 11 when the smaller figures and babies are added. He painted them in bright, friendly colors so young visitors would not be frightened. Even one of the T-rexes looks more like a giant puppy, carrying a stick in its mouth.
The dinosaurs proved so successful that other roadside shops around Holbrook began creating prehistoric displays of their own. Before long, the local petrified-wood businesses were engaged in something of a dinosaur-building contest. Route 66 could always use a little more competition.
Another Dino at the Rainbow Rock Shop
Holbrook, AZ Photo courtesy Larry Glass
Inside and around the Rainbow Rock Shop are piles of petrified wood, fossils, geodes, obsidian, shark teeth, and other geological treasures. Visitors were traditionally asked to leave a small fee if they stepped inside the fence to photograph the dinosaurs.
UPDATE: The Rainbow Rock Shop dinosaurs congregate off of Route 66 in Holbrook. The large statues are a can't miss sight to see when traveling along the Mother Roads in Northern Arizona. 04-09
UPDATE: The Rainbow Rock Shop remains open under newer management, and Adam Luna’s colorful concrete dinosaurs are still gathered outside. The shop continues selling rocks and souvenirs, with teas, coffee, and baked goods now joining the prehistoric collection. 09-26
Kokopelli
Rainbow Rock Shop
A colorful herd of dinosaurs stands guard outside the Rainbow Rock Shop along old Route 66 in Holbrook. Brontosauruses, a stegosaurus, a triceratops, and a couple of Tyrannosaurus rexes crowd around the shop, making this one rock store that is pretty hard to drive past without slowing down.
Rainbow Dino
Another Dino at the Rainbow Rock Shop
