Illinois Has a New State Holiday: Illinois Bacon Day!

There aren’t many things the two sides of the aisle in Springfield can agree on these days, but there is at least ONE thing!

We all LOVE BACON!

More specifically, we all appreciate the pork producers in the state that provide us such provisions.

Thanks to a unanimous 12-0 vote by the Agriculture and Conservation Committee, may it be forever known that May 3rd, 2023 shall hereto be known as Illinois Bacon Day!

Senate Joint Resolution 22 was filed by Republican Tom Bennett of the 53rd district. It was sponsored in the House by Democrats Lance Yednock of the 76th and Harry Benton of the 97th.

Yes…a true bipartisan effort!

The bill points out that Illinois is the 4th largest pork producing state in the United States, contributing an estimated $13.8 billion to the State’s economy and supporting over 57,000 jobs. It also says Illinois pig farmers produce over 8 six billion slices of bacon per year, and the average American 9 eats 17.9 lbs. of bacon of per year!

Do the lawmakers in Springfield have bigger fish (or bacon) to fry? Sure, but I don’t see anything wrong with thanking some hard working, blue collar Illinoisans while all the other stuff gets sorted out (or not).