Everyone Loves Spuds

Let’s Be Honest: Idaho Is the Potato State

By Joan Opyr, 10-04-05

Say it loud, say it proud: P-O-T-A-T-O. Idaho grows the biggest, best-tasting potatoes in the world. Our potatoes are baked, mashed, served au gratin, and turned into crispy, super-sized, irresistible french fries. It's true that we only grow potatoes in the central and southern part of the state; in Northern Idaho, we grow winter wheat and dried peas and lentils. Northern Idaho is, in fact, the dried pea and lentil capital of the world. Hip, hip, hooray!

But lentils and wheat do not make for a truly distinctive Idaho quarter. Let's face it -- the only thing that distinguishes Idaho from Iowa in the minds of the rest of the nation is the potato. The humble spud is the thing for which we here in Idaho are best known. The peregrine falcon? Lovely, yes, but other states do have them. The Sawtooth Mountains? Okay, I challenge you tell the difference between an engraving of the Sawtooths and an engraving of the Bitteroots if each were stamped on the back of a quarter. As for the song, "Here We Have Idaho,"come on -- if you can actually hum a few bars of the latter, then you need to trade in that old Victrola and pay a visit to the 21st Century. Log onto iTunes and download some Kanye West. Get with the program, Daddy-O. The times, they are a'changing.

According to Christopher Smith of the Associated Press, Idaho's Governor Dirk Kempthorne said of the proposed designs, "I knew the ideas would be creative, beautiful and bold -- just like Idaho." You think? If we were truly bold, we'd tell the truth. We'd embrace the potato. We'd put an enormous baked russet on our quarter, complete with a melting pat of butter. People would see that and think, "Iowa." Then, someone would correct them, and they'd think "Idaho."

Georgia has the peach. North Carolina has the Wright brothers' airplane. I don't know what's on the other states' quarters because unlike George, North Carolina, and Idaho, they aren't fortunate enough to have one single thing for which they are known. We are missing a golden, deep-fried opportunity here, folks. Potato, potato, potato!

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