Somewhere between Madison and the small town of DeForest, Wisconsin, a towering fiberglass elephant in enormous eyeglasses watches over a Shell gas station. Known as Pinkie — or sometimes Pinky — she holds the title of World's Largest Pink Elephant Statue, according to the World Record Academy, and she has quietly become one of the Midwest's most cheerful roadside photo ops.
The statue stands at 4995 County Road V, right beside a gas station and convenience store that sells fresh and local goods as well as a shelf of Pinkie souvenirs. That combination is classic Wisconsin road-trip economics: fill the tank, grab a snack, snap a photo with a 20-foot elephant in spectacles, and be back on the highway in fifteen minutes.
Pinkie belongs to a proud American tradition of oversized fiberglass roadside mascots — the same family as giant donuts, giant cowboys and giant ducks. These monuments were mostly built in the mid-20th century to lure drivers off the highway, and the good ones still do exactly that. What makes Pinkie fun is her specificity: she's not just a large elephant, she's a large pink elephant wearing glasses, which gives every photo a slightly surreal edge that a plain statue can't match.
DeForest itself sits just north of Madison, so the stop slots easily into a broader southern Wisconsin trip. You could pair it with a Madison weekend — the state capital's lakes, farmers' market and food scene are all within a short drive — or fold it into a longer roadside-attraction crawl across the state, which has more than its share of oddities. The gas station's local goods make it a legitimate quick stop rather than just a photo, whether that's a drink, a snack or a small souvenir to prove you were there.
Who is this actually for? Road-trippers crossing Wisconsin on I-39 or I-90, families who need a leg-stretch stop with built-in entertainment, and anyone who collects America's strange roadside giants. It costs nothing to see, takes minutes, and delivers exactly the kind of odd, memorable detour that makes a long drive feel like a trip rather than a chore. If you find yourself heading from Madison toward Wisconsin Dells, pull off at DeForest and say hello to Pinkie.
