Wisconsin, USA
The Badger State (30)
Capitol: Madison
Admitted into Union: May 29, 1848
State Flower: Wood Violet
State Tree: Sugar Maple
State Bird: Robin
Population: 5.5 million

Say cheese! There are about 77,000 farms in Wisconsin. Over 99% of them are family-owned. Wisconsin produces over 13% of the nation’s milk supply and over 2.5 billion pounds of cheese a year. That’s a lot of curds and whey! We think Little Miss Muffet would have loved the Wisconsin Porter, our paean to the dairy capital of America.

Got calcium? The first ice cream sundae was concocted in Two Rivers in 1881. The first malted milk was whipped up in Racine in 1883. Colby and Brick cheese are the only two true original Wisconsin cheeses.

Got deet? Wisconsin features 14,927 lakes, most of them glacial. Lake Winnebago is the largest, spanning nearly 138,000 acres.

O say can you Oom pah pah? The Wisconsin state dance is the polka. The state beverage is milk (not beer, as you might think with all that German heritage).

Walk the dog: The world-famous “Duncan Yo-Yo” is made in Baraboo by the Flambeau Corp.

Pioneers in Social Causes: Wisconsin was the first state to provide pensions for the blind (1907), aid to dependent children (1913), and old-age assistance (1925).

Labor of love or love of labor? Wisconsin was the first state to pass an unemployment compensation law (1932) and the first in which worker's compensation law actually took effect. In 1984, Wisconsin became the first state to adopt the Uniform Marital Property Act.

But who’s counting? Wisconsin has over 500 types of soil.

Really, who’s counting (besides Massachusetts?). Wisconsin produces 2.1 million barrels of cranberries annually.

Ok, no one better be counting! Wisconsinites consume nearly 21 million gallons of ice cream each year.

Home of the Superlative: Sheboygan is the self-proclaimed Bratwurst Capital of the World, and they have a two-day festival to prove it! The varieties are astounding (regrettable?), ranging from Cajun to Taco flavor. Mercer calls itself Home of the World’s Largest Loon, and erected a 16-foot tall, one-ton fiberglass loon sculpture to secure its bragging rights (and really irritate Minnesota). Mount Horeb took the low road and laid claim to being the Troll Capitol of the World, lining their main street with the country’s grandest collection of life-size trolls, carved from tree trunks. Not ones to rest on their laurels, they also built a Mustard Museum, housing more than 3,500 varieties.

Famous Wisconsinites: Don Ameche, Carrie Catt, Willem Defoe, Tyne Daly, Chris Farley, Eric Heiden, Liberace, Alfred Lunt, Georgia O'Keeffe, Les Paul, William H. Rehnquist, Gena Rowlands, Tom Snyder, Spencer Tracy, Orson Welles, Gene Wilder, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Thornton Wilder, Frank Lloyd Wright