Golden Driller, Tulsa (must see)

The Golden Driller is a 76-foot-tall (23 m), 43,500-pound (19,700 kg) statue of an oil worker. It is the largest free-standing statue in the world, and the third tallest statue in the United States.

It was originally built in 1953 by the Mid-Continent Supply Company of Fort Worth for the International Petroleum Exposition. Six years later, it was temporarily erected again for the 1959 show.

Due to the positive attention it attracted, the company donated the statue to the Tulsa County Fairgrounds Trust Authority which had it permanently installed in front of the Tulsa Expo Center for the 1966 International Petroleum Exposition. The statue's right hand rests on an oil derrick which had been moved from a depleted oil field in Seminole, Oklahoma.

An inscription at the base of the statue reads: "The Golden Driller, a symbol of the International Petroleum Exposition. Dedicated to the men of the petroleum industry who by their vision and daring have created from God's abundance a better life for mankind."

In 1979, the Golden Driller was adopted by the Oklahoma Legislature as the state monument.

The statue stands in front of SageNet Center, originally known as the Exposition Center from 1966 to 2007 and River Spirit Expo from 2013 to 2021. It is the center of the Tulsa State Fair and one of the largest clearspan buildings in the world. The building hosts many events throughout the year such as the Tulsa boat show, the Wanenmacher gun show (the largest gun show in the world), and Daryl Starbird's custom car show.