Fergus Falls ice cream parlor’s “world’s longest gumball machine”

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (KVRR) – A couple from Fergus Falls, Minn., has become the talk of the town, thanks to a huge twist on a timeless classic. Uncle Eddie’s, an ice cream parlor, lays claim to the world’s longest gumball machine.

“The gumball starts all the way in the back and they run over to see it and they follow it on the track all the way across the store and they come down and it’s just, it’s cool.” said Kurt Frustol, co-owner of Uncle Eddie’s.

The ice cream parlor was opened during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a few years later they came up with the idea of adding a long gumball machine to the shop. Thanks to some help from a local school, they were able to bring this dream to a reality.

“So I went to Hillcrest Lutheran Academy and their pre-engineering team worked with me. We helped design it, we worked together as a team. It kind of worked out.” said Frustol.

Since then, it has become a tourist attraction in Fergus Falls. It has over 100 feet of track and people can put in a quarter to watch the gumball make it’s way down.

“They come in with their quarters right away, come running through the front door, go to the gum ball machine usually first and it just brings joy to people,” said Anne Frustol, co-owner of Uncle Eddie’s. “Yeah I would not believe that we did this either. But we’re just so excited to be here and we love Fergus Falls. Coming from New Jersey, we miss family and friends. But we love Minnesota.”

“Feel the town has wrapped their arms around us. Helped us in the beginning a lot and now I feel like in a way we’re giving back a little bit.” said Kurt Frustol.

The Guinness World Records got back to us saying they don’t have a category yet for the longest gumball machine.