Survey confirms why the Great State of Georgia is so great

It is my obligation as your modest-yet-much-beloved scribe to remind you of important stuff others tend to overlook. Only here will you read that broccoli can be detrimental to your well-being unless you consume large amounts of banana pudding as a cure. Or, that You-Know-Where-Institute of Technology is facing an educational crisis. They are graduating more engineers than there are locomotives available to accommodate them.

I have also been known to extol the virtues of the Great State of Georgia and the unique privilege we have of living here. We not only have the greatest state song in the history of the world, “Georgia on my Mind,” as sung by Ray Charles Robinson, of Albany, Georgia, we also have the oldest state-chartered university in the nation with almost as many first round NFL draft picks (20) as Rhodes Scholars (28.)

Now I share a study from MarketBeat.com, a financial media company in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, that surveyed 3,015 respondents, asking them to name the American-made products in their state that make them beam with state pride.

MarketBeat.com says they provide their clients “financial data, market analysis and news, including information on analyst ratings, dividends and insider trades.” How that fits with asking people what makes them beam with pride about their state isn’t clear.

I assume there is only so much financial data one can analyze in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and someone at MarketBeat.com said, “Hey! I’m getting eye-glaze talking about IPOs and stock splits. Why don’t we find out what makes people beam with pride about their state and publish the results? Maybe we can sucker some modest-yet-much-beloved columnist into writing about it. Then we can all go play in the snow even though it’s July!”

It makes sense if we are going to look at what puffs us up with pride, we should start with South Dakota. After all, that’s where the survey originated and it is in that state where one of the most significant monuments in all the land, maybe in all the world is located. Mt. Rushmore, of course. Over two million visitors a year. American-made. The obvious choice. Right? Wrong.

It seems South Dakotans prefer Wall Drug Store in Wall, South Dakota, (Pop. 800), a collection of cowboy-themed stores, including a drug store, several restaurants, a gift shop and an 80-foot sculpture of a brontosaurus. How can 60-foot-high granite faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln compete with that?

It is interesting what floats the boat of other states. According to the survey, some choices are obvious. Idaho is proud of its potatoes. Hawaii is proud of its coffee and Florida its orange juice. Maine is proud to be the home of L.L. Bean and Minnesota of General Mills. Michigan says it is the Ford Motor Company about which they beam, which must have General Motors scratching their heads as to why not them?

Some choices are surprising. Indiana lists as its top choice, Orville Redenbacher’s Popcorn and I say good for them. The day you don’t find a box of Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn in my pantry, report me as seriously missing. A few are a bit uninspiring. Illinois is most proud of chewing gum. New Jersey? A can of Campbell’s soup (tomato, I assume.) Ohio, rubber tires. Chewing gum, soup and rubber tires? All three states are losing population, by the way. If this is what they are most proud of, that may be a big reason why.

Compare all of the above with our Great State of Georgia. Not surprisingly, the survey shows we are most proud of Coca-Cola. And we should be. It was invented right here in our state in 1886. And it has done pretty well since. More than 2.2 billion Coca-Colas are served in more than 200 countries and territories each day. That’s a lot to be proud of.

Ranking No. 2 is the sweet Vidalia Onion, which is grown in only 13 counties in Georgia and a portion of seven more. There is nothing like the Vidalia Onion. The Vidalia name is even protected federally, as well as by state law. It is illegal to call a sweet onion a “Vidalia” if it’s grown outside this area. As if we wouldn’t notice the difference.

Coca-Cola, Vidalia Onions, the greatest state song in the history of the world and the oldest state-chartered university in the nation? Beam with pride, my fellow Georgians. Our cup runneth over. Can I get an amen?

You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com or at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139.