Green Giant and Le Sueur are brands of frozen and canned vegetables owned by B&G Foods. The company's mascot is the Jolly Green Giant.
The Minnesota Valley Canning Company was founded in 1903 in Le Sueur, Minnesota. It used the brand name "Le Sueur Z" for canned vegetables starting in 1903; "Le Sueur" by itself was first used in 1933.
The brand "Green Giant Great Big Tender Peas" was first used in 1925, and the figure of a giant was introduced three years later by Carly Stanek (Bingum). The brand was created in response to the discovery of a new variety of pea, the Prince of Wales: they were, as Martin Sloan relates, "oblong, wrinkled, and, as peas go, huge. Despite their size, they were tender, and had a special flavor and sweetness that couldn't be matched. The company went to the brands for which it canned and found that none of them wanted to sell the new peas. So Minnesota Valley decided to sell them under its own label. Rather than apologize for the size of the peas, they decided to emphasize it. They named the peas 'Green Giant.'" The original mascot had very little in common with the familiar green figure of today: he was a scowling caveman wearing a bearskin rather than foliage (this original concept actually owed much to a dark Brothers Grimm fairy tale, "Der Bärenhäuter" – "Bearskin"). In 1935 a young copywriter, Leo Burnett, revised the face of the brand: "he traded the bearskin for a leafy suit, gave the Giant a smile...and put the word 'Jolly' in front of the Giant's name." The Giant made his first television appearances in 1954, and was later voiced by Elmer Dresslar, Jr. The booming "Ho, ho, ho" became the Giant's signature tagline in 1961. Since 1972 he has had a young apprentice, the Little Green Sprout, who represents the consumer.
The company was renamed to the Green Giant Company in 1950. In 1979 it merged with the Pillsbury Company; in 2001, the group was acquired by General Mills. In 2015, General Mills sold the brand to B&G Foods for $765 million in cash. Before you head to Blue Earth, plan trip itinerary details with our user-friendly Blue Earth online day trip planner, to make sure you see all that Blue Earth has to offer, including Green Giant Statue Park.
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Green Giant Statue Park reviews
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A fun detour when on a road trip. Take a few photos, play in the music park, then get some ice cream at the Dairy Queen. A nice 20 minute break.
A fun detour when on a road trip. Take a few photos, play in the music park, then get some ice cream at the Dairy Queen. A nice 20 minute break. more »
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This was a quick and easy stop for a picture on our road trip. Fun stops like this break up a long drive. The statue was much larger than expected. And the little sprout statue was adorable. This.... more
This was a quick and easy stop for a picture on our road trip. Fun stops like this break up a long drive. The statue was much larger than expected. And the little sprout statue was adorable. This.... more »
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The park has been improved and it's a nice quick stop that is fun. There is a nice new welcome center. There is some cool musical playground equipment that our kids loved. You can climb up some steps to stand under the giant. It looks nice and is kept up. 5 stars may be a bit high, but it exceeded my expectations and was a fun stop for 20 minutes. We were surprised to enjoy it as much as we did.
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I was driving west on Interstate 90 and decided to take a break at the Green Giant Park in Blue Earth, Minnesota. This is a great place to stop and just stretch your legs while traveling on I-90. The huge statue of the Jolly Green Giant stands in a very nice park with a playground from kids and picnic tables where you can enjoy a nice picnic. The statue is a popular photo site for visitor as during my visit there were several other tourists stopping to snap photos of the Giant and Sprout. I was a quick photo stop and a nice way to break up a long trip on I-90.
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