Ho, Ho, Ho, Jolly Green Giant: Better Than Santa! (But who's Little Green Sprout's Mother?)

COOL!
A colossal statue of the Jolly Green Giant in Blue Earth, Minnesota, has spawned a "Giant" Museum and an annual "Giant Days" festival, where kids put out snacks at night and big green footprints are left in front of their homes the next morning.

The first Green Giant was inspired by Grimm’s Fairy Tales. He looked like a cave man carrying a very large pea pod, he wore a bearskin, he did not look friendly, and he wasn’t green. That was 1928. The Green Giant evolved into a completely green man wearing a tunic made of leaves.

In 1935, his new look was trademarked when the advertising company Leo Burnett (also known for creating Tony the Tiger, the Pillsbury Doughboy, and Toucan Sam) toned down the Green Giant's grim (think Grimm) giant-ness and gave him a new job to go with his new smile: watching over the Jolly Green Giant Valley and protecting crops. (http://blog.retroplanet.com/character-of-the-week-jolly-green-giant/)

No, I don't feel like mentioning Little Green Sprout. (Who was his mother?)

The canning plant is no longer owned by Green Giant but his statue remains. Blue Earth's major summer festival --Giant Days --is held annually on the weekend following the Fourth of July. Every year during Giant Days, green footsteps are painted on sidewalks throughout downtown Blue Earth, leading to local businesses .

July 6, 1979: The Jolly Green Giant was bolted to his eight-foot-high base, complete with a staircase so that visitors could pose for snapshots between his legs. Hedberg wanted to include a button that would boom "Ho Ho Ho!" when pushed, but a lack of funds put it on hold. - See more at: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2127#sthash.HxyqIBed.dpuf