Canada's tallest man in danger of being worn out by Windsorites

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Twenty-four year old Jerry Sokoloski, who stands 7' 7" and weighs 550 lbs, has toured Windsor, Ontario since late 2007. A gracious guest, amiable Sokoloski has made appearances at area businesses, meeting Windsorites, and was most recently seen at Bubi's Awesome Eats -- at an invitation-only, who's-who-of-Windsor-event -- where he was served an 18 pound hamburger.

A growing number of citizens, however, are concerned that Windsorites might ask too much of Canada's Tallest Man. For instance, there has been talk of cordoning off a three-block section of Ouellette Avenue in order to create space for Mr. Sokoloski to demonstrate physical feats, such as throwing a minivan tire, palming and squishing watermelons with one hand, arm-wrestling a revving firetruck, and running and touching traffic lights. Although harmless, goodnatured feats, there is worry among city officials that Windsor's demands upon Mr. Sokoloski may wear out the country's tallest citizen, thus limiting his ability to visit other Canadian communities.

Word of other, more troubling feats have circulated through the city's grapevine, including having Mr. Sokoloski swim across the Detroit River, demonstrate at Sandwich Street's Dominion House how much beer he can drink and how many men he can fight at one time. Moreover, following his appearance at Bubi's Awesome Eats, every restaurant in the city is now eager to have Mr. Sokoloski to their establishments to eat 20 pounds of food. Such are the demands on Canada's Tallest Man, and the rigors of these requests can take their toll on even the most gigantic constitutions.

Mr. Sokoloski's tour of Windsor has been hailed as an unqualified success, particularly in light of the failed 2005 visit by Canada's Most Introspective Man, Maurice Osgood. Mr. Osgood's visit culminated with his appearance at the Capitol Theatre, where he sat on stage pondering the audience for two hours before saying, "It is most satisfactory to be here." To which the audience responded with silence and then a smattering of tepid applause. Most of the audience, however, was, in the words of construction worker Frank Gentry, "pissed off."

Talks are in progress between Windsor officials and Mr. Sokoloski's staff about temporarily deputizing Mr. Sokoloski into the Windsor Police Service so that he may compete on the Windsor side of the annual tug-of-war across the Detroit River between the Windsor and Detroit police services during the International Freedom Festival.

In 2009, there are plans to bring Mr. Sokoloski back to Windsor to team up with Girard Charbonneau, Canada's Loudest Man, for a tour of local eateries and historical sites. There was hope that Ian Jott, Canada's Hungriest Man, would be in Windsor to join Mr. Sokoloski and Mr. Charbonneau in a "Three Tenors"-like tour, but Mr. Jott is already scheduled to tour Romania and Transylvania at that time.

At present, Mr. Sokoloski's public appearances are being cut back for him to get some much-needed rest and begin, again, to focus on his writings. Calls seeking confirmation that Mr. Sokoloski has been invited to sample and endorse Windsor escort agencies were not immediately answered.