PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The month of July is now designated in honor of Maine’s most popular fruit crop.
The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed a resolution to designate July as “National Blueberry Month.” Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins and independent Sen. Angus King co-sponsored the resolution.
Maine’s state berry is the wild blueberry, and the state is the only commercial producer of the fruit in the U.S. The senators said the wild blueberry industry “has been an integral part of our state’s economy and culture for centuries.”
The senators said the language of the resolution included a tribute to the indigenous Wabanaki peoples, who first cultivated the crop generations ago.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, also recently named Aug. 7-8 to be the state’s first annual Wild Blueberry Weekend.
–Associated Press
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