The Jolly Green Giant

The Minnesota River valley is known as the "Valley of the Jolly Green Giant."

The Jolly Green Giant is the mascot of the Green Giant food company. The company was founded in 1903 in Le Sueur, Minnesota, as the Minnesota Valley Canning Company. The name Green Giant was introduced in 1925 to help market an unusually large pea. In 1950 the company officially became the Green Giant Company. In 1973, the Green Giant got a little assistant called "Little Green Sprout." The Jolly Green Giant was ranked by Advertising Age magazine as the third most recognizable advertising character of the century's top 10 ad icons behind only Ronald McDonald and the Marlboro Man.

In 1979 Green Giant merged with another Minnesota company, Pillsbury.In 2001 General Mills acquired Pillsbury and Green Giant.

For more information on the Green Giant Company, including recipes and history, visit the Green Giant web pages at bettycrocker.com.

Mascot trivia can be found at http://www.tvacres.com/admascots_jolly.htm and http://www.answers.com/topic/jolly-green-giant.