Massachusetts has the cranberry. Florida of course, the orange. California, the avocado.
But until now, Mississippi was without a state fruit.
That changed this week thanks to fourth-grade pupils at the Mannsdale Upper Elementary School in Madison, Mississippi, a suburb of Jackson.
Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill naming the blueberry the state fruit and it was their idea.
Their teacher, Lisa Parenteau, told the Madison County Journal that they took on “Project Blueberry” as it was dubbed after learning that students in Kansas had lobbied their legislature to make the plum their state fruit.
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“I Googled it and saw we in fact didn’t have one,” she said. She encouraged them to do some research, through which they learned that the blueberry was responsible for nearly $2 million in state tax revenue.
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State Rep. Jill Ford of Madison County sponsored the bill.
“I am overwhelmed that we have been able to watch this go from nothing but a good idea to be manifested into an actual law,” Ford said.
The pupils visited the Mississippi State Capitol and gathered around the governor as he signed the bill.
“I am just beaming with pride,” Parenteau said
