An Elgin nut company is out of the running for the Coolest Thing Made in Illinois contest.
While the Fisher Oven Roasted Never Fried Mixed Nuts made by the John B. Sanfilippo & Son Inc. made it in the top eight slot, the entry did not advance to the second-to-last round in “Makers Madness,” the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association’s bracket-style competition spotlighting the different products made by companies across the state.
The field of contenders has been narrowed down to four from the original list of more than 260 individual products that had been nominated. The finalists are The Clipper by the Sterling-based Wahl Clipper Corp.; Beer Nuts Bar Mix, based in Bloomington; the Functional Hand made by Thera-Solutions, LLC. in Elmhurst; and the 797F Large Mining Truck from Caterpillar, made in Decatur.
A switch being produced by Carpentersville’s OTTO Engineering for NASA’s Orion spacecraft was among those in the top 16.
Nearly 250,000 votes have been cast in the tournament, an association news release said.
“Although we launched this contest before our state and country began feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s been encouraging to see the outpouring of support for these products and companies,” Mark Denzler, president and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, said in the news release.
Voting for the final round will run through March 29. Voters may cast one vote per day in the final round. The Coolest Thing winner will be announced April 1.
Erin Sauder is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
