The Tin Family — Gary Greff
Gary Greff · Enchanted Highway, north of Regent, North Dakota, USA · 1991
Photo: Carol M. Highsmith, Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division (record via Wikimedia Commons, public domain, no known restrictions on publication), camera date 30 September 2005, the same photo as in the Street Art Utopia post. Full photograph shown.
The Tin Family is a farm family of three giants, Dad, Mom and their son, welded from scrap metal beside the Enchanted Highway near Regent, North Dakota. Enchanted Highway: Tin Family · SPACES Archives: Enchanted Highway · North Dakota Living, 3 May 2024 Checked Gary Greff raised it in 1991 as the first sculpture group on the 32-mile road, part of his long effort to revive his hometown. North Dakota Living, 3 May 2024 · Enchanted Highway: Artist & Project Checked
4 things to know
- The first giant on the roadGreff placed the Tin Family in 1991, the first group of sculptures on what became the Enchanted Highway. SPACES Archives calls it “the first piece realized”, and the official page gives 1991 as the date it was erected. North Dakota Living, 3 May 2024 · SPACES Archives: Enchanted Highway · Enchanted Highway: Tin Family Checked
- A family at prairie scaleDad is 45 feet tall, Mom 44 feet and their son 23 feet. SPACES describes Mom with a flower basket, Dad in overalls holding a pitchfork, and the boy holding a giant lollipop. Enchanted Highway: Tin Family · SPACES Archives: Enchanted Highway Checked
- Made from farm scrapThe official page lists farm tanks, telephone poles, barbed wire and augers; the barbed wire is Mom’s hair. Enchanted Highway: Tin Family · SPACES Archives: Enchanted Highway · RoadsideAmerica: Tin Farm Family Checked RoadsideAmerica adds that the boy’s lollipop is made from the bottom of a flattened fuel tank. RoadsideAmerica: Tin Farm Family Reported
- A road to save a townGreff wanted to revive Regent after decades of population and economic decline. Enchanted Highway: Artist & Project · North Dakota Living, 3 May 2024 Checked According to North Dakota Living he had never welded, so local farmers taught him; RoadsideAmerica says he wanted the first sculpture to reflect the region’s farming heritage and built it with help from the town. North Dakota Living, 3 May 2024 · RoadsideAmerica: Tin Farm Family Reported
Where it is
- 📍
- On the west side of the Enchanted Highway just north of Regent, the sculpture closest to town on the 32-mile road that starts at Interstate 94, exit 72 (Gladstone). RoadsideAmerica: Tin Farm Family · OpenStreetMap: The Tin Family · North Dakota Living, 3 May 2024 Checked
- 👀
- Look for three giant figures, Dad, Mom and their boy, standing in a mown lot behind a white picket fence, with a small Enchanted Highway sign kiosk. Google Street View, Aug 2026 · Highsmith photo, Library of Congress record via Wikimedia Commons Checked
- 🗓️
- SPACES Archives says the sculptures are always viewable from the road. SPACES Archives: Enchanted Highway Reported
Sightings
- 1991
Erected, the route’s first sculpture group
- 200530 Sep
Photo by Carol M. Highsmith (camera date)
- 2013
SPACES survey lists the site as extant
- 20243 May
North Dakota Living feature
- 2026Aug
Street View
Every stamp links to its source. The amber stamps are records and reports: the official Enchanted Highway page, which gives 1991 as the year the Tin Family was erected; the SPACES Archives survey by Jo Farb Hernández, signed 2013, which lists the Enchanted Highway as extant; and North Dakota Living’s feature of 3 May 2024. The green stamps are dated pictures of the family in place: Carol M. Highsmith’s photograph on this page (camera date 30 September 2005) and Google Street View imagery dated August 2026.
On the record
Dreams come to life on Enchanted Highway
“I thought, ‘Well, no one’s going to drive 30 miles for normal, but they might drive for the world’s largest,’” he says. “And that’s how it all started.”
Gary Greff, on why he started building giants; the article says he placed the Tin Family in 1991 after local farmers taught him to weld.
The facts
- Title
- The Tin Family. SPACES Archives calls it the World’s Largest Tin Family and RoadsideAmerica the Tin Farm Family. Enchanted Highway: Tin Family · North Dakota Living, 3 May 2024 · Highsmith photo, Library of Congress record via Wikimedia Commons · SPACES Archives: Enchanted Highway · RoadsideAmerica: Tin Farm Family Checked
- Artist
- Gary Greff, a retired school teacher who grew up in Regent. SPACES Archives: Enchanted Highway · Enchanted Highway: Artist & Project Checked According to North Dakota Living he had also been a school principal, returned to Regent in 1989 and learned to weld from local farmers. North Dakota Living, 3 May 2024 Reported
- Year
- 1991, the date the official page gives for its erection; North Dakota Living also says it was placed in 1991. Enchanted Highway: Tin Family · North Dakota Living, 3 May 2024 Checked RoadsideAmerica says Greff started it in 1989 and completed it in 1991. RoadsideAmerica: Tin Farm Family Reported
- Project start
- The official artist page says Greff began building the Enchanted Highway in 1989, and North Dakota Living gives 1989 too; the Guinness text quoted on the same official page and SPACES Archives say 1990; the Library of Congress record of our photo says the idea of an Enchanted Highway originated in July 1993. We lean to 1989: the official site and North Dakota Living’s 2024 profile give it, and the Tin Family itself was up by 1991, which rules out 1993. Enchanted Highway: Artist & Project · North Dakota Living, 3 May 2024 · SPACES Archives: Enchanted Highway · Highsmith photo, Library of Congress record via Wikimedia Commons Conflicting
- Size
- Dad 45 feet, Mom 44 feet, the boy 23 feet tall. Enchanted Highway: Tin Family · SPACES Archives: Enchanted Highway Checked
- Materials
- Scrap metal: farm tanks, telephone poles, barbed wire and augers; the barbed wire forms Mom’s hair. Enchanted Highway: Tin Family · SPACES Archives: Enchanted Highway · RoadsideAmerica: Tin Farm Family Checked
- Place
- West side of the Enchanted Highway (102 Ave. SW) just north of Regent, Hettinger County, North Dakota; about 46.44837, -102.55146, from OpenStreetMap, where Street View shows the family. OpenStreetMap: The Tin Family · Google Street View, Aug 2026 · RoadsideAmerica: Tin Farm Family Checked The map pin on the official Tin Family page, 46.45239, -102.51370, lies about 2.9 km further east, away from the road where we found the sculptures; we follow OpenStreetMap and Street View. Enchanted Highway: Tin Family · OpenStreetMap: The Tin Family · Google Street View, Aug 2026 Conflicting
- Upkeep
- Greff continues to maintain the sculptures, and the Friends of the Enchanted Highway Foundation was formed to preserve them; its president put the yearly cost of maintaining the existing sculptures at about $70,000. Enchanted Highway: Artist & Project · North Dakota Living, 3 May 2024 Reported
- Status
- Standing: Google Street View dated August 2026 shows all three figures in place. Google Street View, Aug 2026 Checked
- Our photo
- By Carol M. Highsmith, camera date 30 September 2005; Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division (LCCN 2010630884), public domain. Highsmith photo, Library of Congress record via Wikimedia Commons Checked
Related
- Only in America (11 Photos vol. 3): the SAU collection with the Tin Family and other roadside giants and public art across the United States
All sources (9)
Official
- Enchanted Highway: “Tin Family”. Date erected 1991; heights of Dad, Mom and the kid; scrap metal used; map coordinates.
- Enchanted Highway: “Artist & Project”. Greff began in 1989 (the Guinness text quoted there says 1990), maintains the sculptures and wanted to revive Regent; the 32-mile road.
Press
- North Dakota Living: “Dreams come to life on Enchanted Highway”, by Luann Dart, 3 May 2024. The Tin Family raised in 1991 as the first group of sculptures; Greff’s story; the foundation and upkeep costs.
- RoadsideAmerica: “Tin Farm Family: Enchanted Highway”. Started in 1989, completed in 1991; barbed-wire hair, fuel-tank lollipop; closest sculpture to town, on the west side of the road.
Photos
- Wikimedia Commons: “The Tin Family,” Enchanted Highway, Regent, North Dakota, by Carol M. Highsmith, camera date 30 September 2005, with the Library of Congress record (LCCN 2010630884), public domain. Our hero photo.
- Google Street View, Enchanted Highway, August 2026. The three figures in place behind their fence.
Records
- SPACES Archives: “Enchanted Highway”. Survey by Jo Farb Hernández, 2013: status extant; the Tin Family as the first piece realized, with heights and materials.
- OpenStreetMap: “The Tin Family”. Mapped artwork by Gary Greff, metal; location used for this file.
Street Art Utopia
- Street Art Utopia: “Only in America (11 Photos vol. 3)”. The SAU post with this photo.
Artwork File · Last checked 22 October 2026 · Certainty labels follow How We Verify Art · All Artwork Files