A spud-tacular event

ERIE COUNTY — It's the equivalent of about 1 million French fries or over 20,000 servings of mashed potatoes and weighs 4 tons. The World's Largest Potato on Wheels and "The Tater Team" treated The Sandusky Bay Pancake House in Sandusky to a special visit on Wednesday. "We're like the Wienermobile but cooler," Jena Garofalo, a brand ambassador for the potato, said. "There's six of them and only one of us, so keep your eyes peeled." Boil 'em, mash 'em How does a tater get that big? Well, it's not actually real. It's a traveling fiberglass potato that's a creation of the Idaho Potato Commission, an agency that promotes potatoes grown in that state. It began touring the country in 2012 to commemorate the agency's 75th anniversary. Now on its 14th tour, the potato has seen every state in the country, including Hawaii and Alaska. The potato's purpose "is to bring a smile to someone's face and hopefully inspire you to buy Idaho potatoes because they are actually really healthy," Garofalo said. "My favorite fun fact is that it has more potassium in it than a banana." If it were real, a potato that large would take somewhere around 7,000 years to grow, the commission said. Garofalo, known by the moniker "Spudshine," said it stops by potato affiliates like restaurants, grocery stores and events to promote Idaho potatoes and more than 700 family farms from the state. In addition to the Idaho promotion, the potato also has a charitable aspect, making donations to local charities along its tour route. Up next in its giving, the team will support Inspire Aviation while at the Props and Pistons Festival in Akron. A tater on tour During Garofalo's time with the potato, there have been several notable locations that the team has stopped at. "Niagara Falls was really cool," Garofalo said. "Staring over at Canada in a giant potato." Garofalo also described her time in Washington as "a fever dream." The team was in a Memorial Day parade looking out toward the White House from the vegetable. The potato is making its way to Akron for the Props and Pistons Festival, but coordinated with Steve Schuster, owner of the Pancake House, so the team could stop by the restaurant on their way. Schuster said it was the potato's team who reached out first after seeing the restaurant as a good pit stop on social media. "They use (the tour) to promote their Idaho potatoes which we proudly serve inside," Schuster said. "It's a nice mesh." Visitors who stopped by the pancake house were welcome to take photos with the potato and were offered samples of mashed potatoes, pins and stickers. Onlookers of the monstrous vegetable commented on its size, including 9-year-old Mehki Lee. He said the potato was "pretty big" and estimated it could produce "a couple thousand" French fries.