I Visited the World’s Largest Fountain Drink Cup

But…what is a fountain-drink cup?

It’s in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, next to and it’s profoundly extant. I had feared it a ruse, because what makes a fountain drink a fountain drink is that it’s served from the fountain, but nobody claimed it was the world’s largest fountain drink, just the world’s largest fountain-drink cup. I have no reason to doubt that it is.

What is a fountain-drink cup, though? This is a vessel adorned to resemble one in shape, emblazoned with the name of a convenience-store chain, Rhodes, which operates a location directly beside the cup. It is a manufactured glory, like most American roadside attractions: something there to get you to stop and purchase. Perhaps this is the most honest and complete answer: A fountain-drink cup is a vessel proffered not for its own sake but as a lure for or accessory to something else.

Tripadvisor suggests that a complete trip to the World’s Largest Fountain Drink Cup can be carried out in less than an hour, and I concur.