Venture

When Venture first launched in 1985, one stated goal was to be a TV version of the Wall Street Journal's front page: lively, lucid and wide-ranging. It's about business, but it's not just for businessmen and businesswomen. Venture covered all the aspects of the economy in Canada and beyond: prices, profits, personnel, innovation and ideas as they affect any business. From farms to fishing boats, boardrooms to barbershops, Venture was about the business of making a living. CBC cancelled Venture in 2007, after an amazing 22 seasons on the air. Twenty-three years after Venture's debut, the CBC Digital Archives focuses on the show's first season, under host Patrick Watson.

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Big apple dreams in Colborne

Broadcast Date: May 22, 1988

Maybe it's not the most famous "big apple" in the world, but at almost 11 metres high, the Big Apple in Colborne, Ont., stands as the largest of its kind. The bright red icon beside highway 401 between Toronto and Kingston not only spotlights the main local crop, it brings to fruition one man's dream, inspired by Disney and a giant pineapple. And this, George Boycott tells CBC's Venture in this 1988 report, is just the beginning of his theme park ode to the apple. Next up: a petting zoo and mini golf will help make this Big Apple a real vacation destination.

Big apple dreams in Colborne

• The Big Apple theme park added not only a petting zoo and a mini golf course, but also a children's playground and a nature trail for hiking. According to the township of Cramahe tourism information, the Apple receives over 500,000 visitors per year. The restaurant and bakery serve about 2,000 pies a week, selling more than three million since they first opened.

• At 42 tonnes and 11.6 metre wide, the Big Apple could hold 653,800 real apples. It is made of fibreglass and foam.

• According to The Independent (of east Northumberland, Ont.), George Boycott sold his shares in the Big Apple in 1992 and shifted his focus to real estate and local politics. He served in several civic positions over a 14-year political career, including as the last reeve of Colborne prior to its amalgamation with the township of Cramahe in 2001.

• In June, 2009, Ted Sayers opened a second location of the Big Apple, on Highway 11, the gateway to Ontario's cottage country. Located just one kilometre north of the famous burger stand Webers, plans call for a massive apple structure to be erected within a few years.

Ontario is home to hundreds of large roadside attractions. They include:
• Birchbark Sign in Algonquin Park
• Spirit Catcher in Barrie
• World's Largest Snowman in Beardmore
• Northern Ontario Logging Memorial in Blind River
• Chimo the Polar Bear in Cochrane
• Loonie in Echo Bay
• Two-Man Crosscut Saw in Hearst
• Husky the Muskie in Kenora
• Miners Memorial, Kirkland Lake
• Tomato-Shaped Information Booth in Leamington
• Big Joe Muffraw in Mattawa
• Voyageur in Mattice
• Floral Clock in Niagara Falls
• Mammoth Cheese in Perth
• The Wall (World's Largest Photo Mosaic) in Port Carling
• Moose Cow and Calf in Sault Ste. Marie
• Jumbo the Elephant in St. Thomas
• Big Nickel in Sudbury
• Mosquito Carrying a Man in Upsala
• Canada Goose in Wawa
• Thermometer in White River
• Wiarton Willie (groundhog) in Wiarton
• King and Queen sculptures in Windsor
• Springbank Snow Countess (cow) in Woodstock

Big apple dreams in Colborne

Medium: Television

Program: Venture

Broadcast Date: May 22, 1988

Guest(s): George Boycott, Suzie Boycott, Henry Mensen, Doug Rutherford

Host: Robert Scully

Duration: 9:37

Last updated:
Aug. 28, 2009

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Big apple dreams in Colborne

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