The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce’s inaugural “Coolest Thing Made in Minnesota” contest fielded more than 100,000 votes over five weeks before landing on the coolest product of all: 3M Scotch® Magic™ Tape.

The announcement came Oct. 8 that the beloved tape stuck it out against 63 other Minnesota products, including Red Wing Shoe Company’s Beckman Boot, Hormel Foods’ SPAM Classic, and the Arctic Cat ZR 858.

The contest ran Sept. 3 through Oct. 4 and included five rounds of voting.

Here are some interesting facts about 3M Scotch Magic Tape: 

• It’s made in 3M’s Hutchinson, Minnesota, facility and sent out globally to customers around the world.
• The “magic” in Scotch Magic Tape is the fact that it appears frosted on the roll, but turns invisible when it’s applied.
• Next year (2025) we’ll celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the invention of Scotch Masking Tape – the precursor of Scotch Cellulose Tape, invented in 1930, which led to the development of Scotch Magic Tape in 1961.
• During the Depression, 3M heard from people who used Scotch Tape to fix everything from ripped clothing, to torn money and cracked eggs.   
• The Hutchinson plant makes about 12 million miles of 3M tapes every year – including Scotch Magic Tape.

The 116-year-old chamber launched the competition to highlight the innovative products that fuel Minnesota’s economy. Of note from the chamber:

• Manufacturing is the single largest private-sector component of Minnesota’s GDP.
• 325,000 Minnesotans work in manufacturing.
• 42% of Minnesota’s Fortune 500 companies are in manufacturing.