Monday, November 20, 2006

The holiday season, or, the time when North Carolina becomes the center of the universe

I've always found it somewhat fascinating that beginning with Thanskgiving, millions of Americans will indulge in goods that are dominated by the state of North Carolina.

The Winston-Salem Journal stated today that North Carolina is the second-largest turkey-producing state after Minnesota. (By the way, Sampson County led the way in N.C. with 11 million gobblers last year.)

And then there are the sweet potatoes.

"North Carolina is the number one producer of sweet potatoes in the United States," according to the Department of Agriculture. "Today more than 40% of the natinal [sic] supply of sweet potatoes comes from North Carolina."

And, finally, the holiday season closes out with Christmas trees.

"The North Carolina Christmas Tree Industry is ranked second in the nation in number of trees harvested and first in the nation in terms of dollars made per tree," according to the N.C. Christmas Tree Association.

"The North Carolina Fraser fir has been judged the Nation's best through a contest sponsored by the National Christmas Tree Association and chosen for the official White House Christmas tree nine times (more than any other species) 1971, 1973, 1982, 1984, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2005, and 2007."

1 comment:

M. Lail said...

You know, the more I've thought about this, the more I don't understand why the Dept. of Ag doesn't do more to promote this fact. It should be really out there "selling" the fact that the holidays are so important to N.C.'s ag economy.