Washington State Fun Facts

1. It is America’s coffee capital, with more coffee bean roasters per capita than any other state.
2. “The Wave”, a popular fan cheer for the past 25 years, was started by Husky fans at the University of Washington.
3. Adam Morrison, a Washington State native and Gonzaga University basketball star, led the NCAA Division I in scoring last season.
4. The state is the nation’s largest exporter, representing $34 billion and 5 percent of all U.S. exports: forest products, aerospace products, apples, tulips, hops, mint, wheat and several other quality food products.
5. Leading innovators — Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Starbucks’ Howard Schultz, wireless pioneers the McCaw family, and the Boeing family — live in Washington State.
6. Washington State is America’s gateway to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C.
7. Washington leads the country in technology industry employment.
8. Grand Coulee Dam, the largest concrete structure in North America, is in Washington State.
9. Washington’s residents are educated; it’s the state with most residents holding high school diplomas. (?) Seattle leads the country in residents with more college degrees per capita.
10. Father’s Day was founded here in 1910
11. The state is home to the world’s largest private car collection featuring over 3,000 vehicles.
12. Washington is home to the largest land mollusk in North America, a foraging banana slug that grows up to 9 inches long.
13. In Washington, a Seahawk is an athlete, not a bird. The closest thing to a Seahawk is an osprey hawk.
14. Washington’s entrepreneurial climate has made it the leading state for both startup and gazelles, or fast growing young companies.
15. Washington, the 42nd state in the union, is the only state named for a president
16. Seattle gets less rainfall annually than Atlanta, Boston, New York, Houston, Miami, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Miami, with 37 inches.
17. Seattle has the highest concentration of aerospace jobs in the world, led by Boeing’s 50,000 workers.
18. Our homegrown musicians include Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, Kenny G, Conrad Askland, The Wailers, Pat Boone, Bing Crosby, Quincy Jones, among others. And now add Blake Lewis, 2007 American Idol final two. Oh, yeah, and Sanjaya.
19. Petrified wood is the state’s gem, and there’s a petrified forest here that’s considered the most unusual fossil forest in the world.
20. Washington State defines innovation. Some of the leading employers include Microsoft, Amazon.Com, Nordstrom, Boeing, Costco and Starbuck’s.
21. Washington has hosted the World’s Fair twice: 1962 in Seattle and 1974 in Spokane.
22. Washington produces 70 percent of the nation’s hops used to brew beer. Coincidentally, to overcome beer breath, the majority of the nation’s mint is also grown in the state.
23. The longest accessible beach in the U.S. is in Washington, the 28-mile-long stretch aptly named Long Beach.
24. Washington is a leader in health sciences research; it ranks tops in scientists and engineers as a percentage of workforce.
25. “Tales from the Far Side” cartoonist Gary Larson is a Washington native.
26. Washington has the largest ferry system in the nation — 26 million passengers travel by ferry each year.
27. The state’s nickname is the Evergreen State for its abundant Evergreen forests.
28. It is America’s raspberry capital, harvesting more than 57 million pounds of raspberries each year.
29. Washington is the country’s second largest producer of wine, with its more than 350 wineries gaining international attention.
30. More people in Seattle commute to work on bicycles than any other city nationwide.
31. Washington’s Hells Canyon is the deepest River Gorge in North America, deeper than the Grand Canyon at over 5,500 feet deep.
32. One in every six Washingtonians owns a boat in this state where recreational and the commercial boating industry leads the country.
33 Kennewick Man, a 9,000-year-old skeleton, the oldest ever discovered in the Americas, was found in Washington in 1996.
34. The first revolving restaurant in the continental U.S. was built in Seattle’s Space Needle for the 1962 World’s Fair.
35. The cleanest air in the nation is found in a Washington community, Bellingham, according to the EPA and American Lung Association.
36. Washington’s cows produce more milk pe r cow than any other state, totaling 1.3 billion pounds of milk each year.
37. Seattle’s world-famous glass artist Dale Chihuly has put Washington on the international map, second only to Venice in number and skill of glassblowing artists.
38. Mark Rypien, 1992 Super Bowl MVP, is a Washington native and resides in Washington State.
39. Washington is the nation’s top apple producing state, with 10-12 billion apples handpicked annually.
40. Seattle sells more sunglasses per capita than any other major city in the nation