As you are probably aware, every state legislature has declared, whether in a statute, regulation, resolution, or otherwise, that various things will thenceforth be the "official state [thing]." This includes, of course, things like official state flags and seals and whatnot, but those don't seem that interesting. As a result, here I will generally be presenting only selected official state crap, not everything that a legislature may have deemed to be official state crap.
Obviously, this is the first of a series. Today, Alabama.
- Official state bird: the yellow-hammer
- Official state horse: the racking horse
- Official state tree: the southern longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Miller)
- Official state mineral: hematite
- Official Poet Laureate: currently, Andrew Glaze
- Official state game bird: the wild turkey
- Official state nut: pecan
- Official state fossil: the "Species Basilosaurus Cetoides"
- Official state fossil name mistake: including "species" in the name of the species
- Official state renaissance faire: the one in Florence (Alabama)
- Official state championship horse show: the Alabama State Championship Horse Show
- Official state barbecue championship: the Alabama Sta-- no, wait, the Demopolis Christmas on the River Barbecue Cook-off
- Official state insect: the monarch butterfly
- Official state butterfly: the eastern tiger swallowtail (which is also an insect)
- Official state outdoor musical drama: "The Incident at Looney's Tavern"
- Official state marine mammal: the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus)
See Ala. Code § 1-2-1 through 1-2-38.
