What a state (capital)

After my recent post on city and town motto(e)s, I did a little research and found that many places in the US are self-proclaimed 'state capitals' for certain things or events. For example, the confusingly-named town of Cheshire is 'the bedding plant capital of Connecticut', and Front Royal is 'the canoe capital of Virginia'. Gays Mills has a slightly more excited motto: 'The apple capital of Wisconsin... come see it!'

Other towns and cities believe they have a national rather than state significance. Gueyden, Louisiana is 'the duck capital of America'; one of my personal favourites is Melvina, Wisconsin, 'the frog capital of the USA'.

A select few places, most of them seemingly in Michigan, see themselves as global leaders. Eau Claire, Michigan is 'the cherry pit spitting capital of the world'; Sturgis, in the same state, is 'the curtain rod capital of the world'.

But the winner of most pretentious town motto has to be Thomasville, North Carolina; not content at being the best at one thing, the 'furniture and hosiery capital of the world' claims two.