What is large enough to hold an elephant, powered by six people on bikes, and currently posted for free on Craigslist?

The “Petal to the Metal” flower basket—Takoma Park’s 14 by 9 by 9 foot contestant in the American Visionary Art Museum’s annual Kinetic Sculpture Race.

The 15-mile race through Baltimore, in which the goal is to end squarely in the middle of the pack, includes traversing through a mud pit, a sand pit, and a brief dip in the harbor, “so flotation is key,” says Beth Novey, a Takoma Park Kinetic Sculpture team member. The basket is made of wall paneling, PVC pipe, and burlap.

Novey is the one who posted the “once-in-a-lifetime basket opportunity” on Craigslist last week.

“I wasn’t bombarded with responses, you’ll be shocked to learn,” she says with a laugh. “A lot of people probably feel like they want an enormous basket in theory, but in practice, it doesn’t come through.”

Of the about a dozen replies, she says many of them were “good ideas for other people,” like taking it to Burning Man or using it in one of D.C.’s many parades (the basket’s last major excursion was a spot in Takoma Park’s July 4th parade).

One woman replied with an idea of using the basket to make a deer-proof garden. The flaw? A deer could likely leap into the basket. Plus, despite polyurethane on the paneling, it’s unclear how long the sculpture will last outside.

So far, the most promising new home for the basket might be Cox Farms, where the famous Foamhenge currently resides. The Centreville, Va. farm has expressed interest in making the basket part of its annual fall festival, according to Novey.

“It would make their state fair prize-winning gigantic pumpkins look regular size,” she says.

Aaron Cox, owner of Cox Farms, confirms that “we will be the lucky new recipients of that very awesomely enormous basket!” He says that the farm is still deciding how, exactly, it’ll incorporate the sculpture. In addition to holding the 600-1,200 pound pumpkins, the large basket could also sit next to the farm’s 15 foot Adirondack chair.

“We’re confident we’ll find the perfect spot for it,” says Cox. “How could we go wrong, really?”

Novey estimates that about 25-30 people could fit in the basket at any one time. The Takoma Park Kinetic Sculpture Team worked on the sculpture from January up until the race in May. There was a core group of about 10 people, and then others who would drop in to help.

This year’s race theme was food. “In January, it was cold and everyone was cranky and we wanted something that brought a little joy,” says Novey. “We thought that an enormous flower basket rolling down the street would bring that.”

During the race, Petal to the Metal blasted a playlist of flower-themed music. While the structure didn’t win that coveted Grand East Coast National Mediocre Champion award, it did net the Art Award.

Many of the quirky creations that have made their home in Takoma Park, like a giant fish made of bottle caps, have their origin in the Kinetic Sculpture Race.

“You work so hard on them and they’re huge, so you can’t store them,” says Novey. “It breaks your heart to dismantle them and throw them away.” It’s her second year participating, and the team has been entering the competition since 2009.

She says that the interest from Craigslist “makes me hopeful that there’s always room for an enormous basket in somebody’s life, even if it’s not ours.”

Updated with comment from Cox Farms.