The state is serving up a new license plate to honor the “Pizza Capital of the United States.”
On Monday, during an event held at Connecticut Foodshare in Wallingford, Gov. Ned Lamont unveiled the new specialty license plate that touts Connecticut as “The Pizza State” along the bottom, and has a graphic of a slice of pizza on the right.
The designation stems from May 22, 2024, when U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro officially entered a statement into the Congressional record declaring New Haven as the “Pizza Capital of the United States.”
The state has since launched the Connecticut Pizza Trail, which includes 20 top pizza restaurants across the state. It has also placed signs touting the designation at its borders on Interstate 84 and 91, and the Connecticut Office of Statewide Marketing & Tourism also recently placed billboards in New York City that say, “The Nation’s Best Pizza (Not You, New York).”
The specialty license plate is available from the state Department of Motor Vehicles, for a fee of $65 for a standard plate, or $134 for a vanity plate. The plate also includes the logo of Wallingford-based Connecticut Foodshare, which is the state’s largest food bank.
A spokesperson for the organization said the plates provide awareness of Connecticut Foodshare’s mission and anyone who wants to support the organization and its efforts to end hunger can make a donation at ctfoodshare.org/donate
The specialty plate is now available via the Connecticut Foodshare website. A vehicle must be currently registered in Connecticut to be eligible for the plate.
Connecticut Foodshare, which recently announced plans to expand its facility in Wallingford, has said food insecurity is rising in the state at a time when federal funding for support programs like SNAP (the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) are being cut.
According to Connecticut Foodshare Chief Operations Officer Tino Rovero, 516,000 state residents, or 14% of the state’s population, are food insecure, including 138,000 children.
The DMV offers more than 50 specialty license plates that serve as fundraisers benefitting local nonprofit organizations.
Editor’s note: This article was updated to reflect that Connecticut Foodshare will not receive the proceeds from sales of the license plate, which instead is intended only to promote the organization and encourage donations.
