CHICAGO – Happy Fall Y’all!
The season of pumpkin spice and everything nice officially arrives this week, which means football, apples, colorful leaves, sweater weather and pumpkin everything for starters.
While some folks may be saying “Oh, my gourd, it’s fall”, most Illinoisans are apparently in the “Go big or gourd home” camp, and have probably already put up their fall decorations and toasted the season with a pumpkin spice latte!
A new Trips to Discover survey ranks Illinois fourth in the country for having the most fall spirit!
That’s right, the only states more obsessed with fall than the Land of Lincoln are Delaware, Virginia, and Rhode Island.
According to researchers, Illinois harvests more pumpkins than the combined total of the bottom 33 pumpkin-growing states.
Researchers used pumpkin agriculture data and online activity using Google Maps, Google Trends, Twitter and information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to determine each state’s ranking.
They calculated the number of pumpkin patches per 100,000 residents in each state; determined each state’s portion of the yearly national pumpkin harvest; looked at the number of Google searches for fall candles, fall decor, fall recipes, and fall activities; plus analyzed fall-related twitter hashtags, such as #fallvibes, #fallseason, #fallcolors, and #leaves – to name a few.
Here’s a look at some of Illinois’ fall stats:
Pumpkin Patches – 144Pumpkin Acres – 17,399Fall Search Score – 55Fall Tweets Score – 53
Trips to Discover reports that top ranked Delaware not only has the most fall spirit, but it also has the most pumpkin patches per capita with seven patches for every 100,000 residents.
Nevada, ranked 25th overall, is No. 1 in the nation for fans of pumpkin spice.
Rhode Island, ranked 3rd overall, is No. 1 in the country for fall activity searches.
The states with the least fall spirit are Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida and Hawaii ranked No. 51.
Here’s a look at the Top 10 states with the most fall spirit:
1. Delaware2. Virginia3. Rhode Island4. Illinois5. New Jersey6. Pennsylvania7. Georgia8. Maryland9. Vermont10. New Hampshire
Other Midwestern States:
14. Wisconsin16. Indiana21. Minnesota23. Iowa28. Michigan30. Missouri