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West Side Nut Club Fall Festival

West Side Nut Club Fall Festival

Evansville's West Side Nut Club Fall Festival is held every October on Franklin street in Evansville, Indiana by Evansville's West Side Nut Club. It draws nearly 150,000 people. West Side Nut Club The West Side Nut Club cordons off four blocks of West Franklin Street for rides and nearly 200 booths, making it the second largest street festival in the United States. Paul Harvey once remarked that only Mardi Gras in New Orleans is larger than the Fall Festival. The main attraction of the festival is the food. Every booth is run by a different non-profit organization, offering treats ranging from the traditional (corn dogs, pronto pups [like a corn dog but with pancake batter], tenderloins, cotton candy) to the radical, such as Montessori Academy's bugs-on-a-stick. The festival was first held in 1924 and has featured an appearance by Minnie Pearl in 1947.

External link


- [http://www.nutclub.org/ "Official Webpage"]
- [http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/04-07/fall-festival-evansville-indiana-usa.html Review by Jenny Davis] Category: Festivals in the United States Category: Festivals in Indiana Category:Evansville, Indiana

October

October is the tenth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. October begins (astrologically) with the sun in the sign of Libra and ends in the sign of Scorpio. Astronomically speaking, the sun begins in the constellation of Virgo and ends in the constellation of Libra. The name is from the Latin Word "octo" for "eight". October was the eighth month in the Roman calendar until a monthless winter period (summer in the southern hemisphere) was divided between January and February.

Events in October

February
- Major League Baseball Playoffs
- National Coming Out Day
- National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
- Second Monday of the month: Thanksgiving in Canada, Columbus Day in the USA.
- The European Union and the USA revert back from Summer Time (Daylight Saving Time) to regular zone time on the last Sunday of the month, from 3 AM to 2 AM. At Merton College, Oxford, this has been celebrated since 1972 with a backward procession round Fellow's Quad between 2 A.M. BST and 2 A.M. GMT.
- Filipino-American History Month
- The last Monday in October is one of the public holidays in the Republic of Ireland and in the Irish Calendar the month is called Deireadh Fómhair (literally "End of Autumn") and is the third and last month of the Autumn season.
- Oktober Fest in Germany
- Halloween on the night of 31 October to 1 November
- In the pagan wheel of the year October ends at or near to Samhain in the northern hemisphere and Bealtaine in the southern hemisphere.
- The Russian October Revolution of 1917 (which took place on November 7 in the Gregorian Calendar).
- The October Crisis of 1970 in Quebec, Canada.

Trivia


- October begins on the same day of the week as January in common years, but no other month begins on the same day of the week as October in leap years.
- October's flower is the calendula.
- October's birthstone is opal or tourmaline.
- October is also the name of an album and song by U2.

Other names


- In Czech, October is called říjen. The origin of this name is in the deer's belling in this month.
- A traditional Dutch name for October is Wijnmaand (wine month) because the first wines of the year have ripened.
- In Finnish, October is called lokakuu, meaning "month of dirt".
- In Scottish Gaelic, October is called an Damhar, meaning "rutting time" (of stags).
- In Irish, October is called Deireadh Fómhair, meaning "end of harvest-time".
- In Turkish, October is called Ekim, meaning "sowing" because of the sowing of wheat.
- In the old Japanese calendar, the month is called Kan'na dzuki (神無月), meaning the absence of god.

See also


- Historical anniversaries Category:Months ko:10월 ms:Oktober ja:10月 simple:October th:ตุลาคม

Evansville, Indiana

For other places named Evansville see Evansville (disambiguation). Evansville is a city located in Vanderburgh County, Indiana. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 121,582, making it the third largest city in the state of Indiana. The city is the county seat of Vanderburgh County. In 2004 Evansville was named an "All-America City" by the National Civic League.. The city is situated on a gentle horseshoe bend on the Ohio River and for this reason it is often referred to as "River City." It was commonly referred to as "Stop Light City" before the city's Interstate 164 bypass was constructed. It serves as a regional hub for the Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois tri-state area.

Geography

Evansville is located at 37°58'38" North, 87°33'2" West (37.977166, -87.550566). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 105.6 km² (40.8 mi²). 105.4 km² (40.7 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.15% water. The city faces the Ohio River along its southern boundary.

Climate

Evansville has a moderate climate and four distinct seasons. Average temperatures range from 32 degrees Fahrenheit to 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Annual rainfall averages 42 inches and annual snowfall averages 13 inches.

Demographics

Evansville is Indiana's third largest city and the regional hub for the tri-state area of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. According to the census of 2000, there are 121,582 people and 30,527 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,153.4/km² (2,987.0/mi²). There are 57,065 housing units at an average density of 541.3/km² (1,402.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the Evansville is 86.24% White, 10.92% African American, 0.21% Native American, 0.72% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.49% from other races, and 1.37% from two or more races. 1.14% of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race. LatinoThere are 52,273 households out of which 26.6% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.8% are married couples living together, 13.7% have a female householder with no husband present, and 41.6% are non-families. 35.1% of all households are made up of individuals and 13.5% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.24 and the average family size is 2.90. In the city the population is spread out, with 22.7% under the age of 18, 11.5% from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.2% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 36 years. For every 100 females there are 88.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 85.1 males. The median income for a household in the city is $31,963, and the median income for a family is $41,091. Males have a median income of $30,922 compared to $21,776 for females. The per capita income for the city is $18,388. 13.7% of the population and 10.1% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 19.0% of those under the age of 18 and 8.4% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line. Like the rest of Indiana, Evansville has long been noted for its hospitality and generosity. Following the Evansville Tornado of November 2005 the coordinating officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency noted, "I don't think I've ever seen a community of people come out so quickly to help each other. All communities come together after a disaster, but this one is exceptional." [http://www.courierpress.com/ecp/news/article/0,1626,ECP_734_4239245,00.html]

Cultural Features

Points of Interest

Federal Emergency Management Agency]Casino Aztar's entertainment facility includes a 2,700 passenger riverboat casino and a riverfront pavilion that houses pre-boarding facilities, retail shops, restaurants, and lounge area. An enclosed walkway links the pavilion to a first-class 250 room hotel, complete with meeting and banquet facilities. An attached parking garage offers over 1,600 sheltered parking spaces with easy access to the casino, pavilion, and hotel. Evansville's Mesker Park Zoo opened in 1928. Mesker Park is Indiana's oldest and largest zoo. Set on a spacious 40-acre park, the zoo features over 500 animals roaming freely in natural habitats surrounded by exotic plants, wildflowers, and trees. Angel Mounds State Historic Site is nationally recognized as one of the best preserved prehistoric Native American sites in the United States. From 1100 to 1450 A. D., a town on this site was home to people of the Middle Mississippian culture. Several thousand people lived in this town protected by a stockade made of wattle and daub. Because Angel Mounds was a chiefdom (the home of the chief) it was the regional center of a large community that grew outward from it for many miles. It is one of 16 state museums and historic sites in Indiana. Bosse Field (opened 1915) is the third oldest baseball stadium still hosting professional games (#2 and #1 being Chicago's Wrigley Field (1914) and Boston's Fenway Park (1912), respectively). Game scenes in A League Of Their Own were filmed there.

Festivals

A League Of Their Own]The West Side Nut Club Fall Festival is a street fair held in the area west of Downtown Evansville. It is held on the first full week of October. According to the West Side Nut Club, the Fall Festival is the second largest street festival in the United States; it is eclipsed only by the famous Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans. Each July the city plays host to the [http://www.evansvillefreedomfestival.org/index.htm/ Evansville Freedom Festival]. It includes the "Thunder on the Ohio" hydroplane races, a firework extravaganza over the Ohio River, and more. The United States Navy's Blue Angels have also been a big crowd pleaser in recent years. In the last weekend of August the popular Frog Follies takes place, when over 4000 street rods converge on the Vanderburgh County 4-H fairgrounds just north of the city.

Arts & Museums

Blue Angels]The Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra (EPO) is the largest arts institution in the tri-state area. Founded in 1934, The EPO is a professional orchestra comprised of approximately 80 musicians led by Music Director Alfred Savia. Each year, the EPO presents a seven-concert classics series, 4 double pops performances, 2 Casual Classics Series concerts and special event concerts, as well as numerous educational and outreach performances. The Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science is home to one of southern Indiana's most established and significant cultural centers. It holds the Koch Planetarium, the oldest in Indiana. Also on the campus is the The Evansville Museum Transportation Center, which features transportation in southern Indiana from the latter part of the Nineteenth Century through the mid-Twentieth Century. The Reitz Home Museum is Evansville's only Victorian House Museum. It is noted as one of the country's finest examples of Second French Empire architecture. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. During World War II Evansville produced 167 LSTs (and 35 other craft), making it the largest inland producer of LSTs in the nation. In October, 2005 USS LST 325 was moved to an Evansville dock and to turned into a museum. It is the last navigable LST in operation today.

Sports

Although high school athletics are a constant source of local patronage, the University of Evansville and University of Southern Indiana regularly draw thousands of spectators to NCAA Division I and Division II sporting events. The city has had an indoor football team since the 2002-2003 season called the BlueCats which plays at Roberts Stadium, and, since 1995, a baseball team called Evansville Otters [http://www.evansvilleotters.com/index.html] which plays in the Frontier League at Bosse Field. Roberts Stadium, a frequent facility for both sports and concerts, seats 13,232 spectators, features four star locker rooms and a press room. The Goebbel Socer Complex is a $3.4 million project built on 70 acres of land. It features nine Olympic-size irrigated Bermuda grass fields and one $550,000+ Olympic-size AstroPlay turf field, only the second field of its kind in Indiana.

Parks

The city oversees the operation of 65 parks and 21 special facilities encompassing more than 2,300 acres of land in the City of Evansville and Vanderburgh County, Indiana. Among these are three popular 18-hole public golf courses and one 9-hole golf course. Located on nearly 200 acres of rolling hills in western Vanderburgh County, Burdette Park features an aquatic center with water slides, three pools, and a snack bar. It also offers a BMX racing track, batting cages, softball diamonds, miniature golf, tennis courts, and locations for fishing. Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve is a National Natural Landmark with nearly 200 acres of virgin bottomland hardwood forest. The Nature Center features exhibits, events, wildlife observation areas, meeting rooms, library, and gift shop.

Law & Government

Burdette Park]The Mayor of Evansville, Jonathan Weinzapfel, serves as the chief executive officer and a nine-member elected City Council is the legislative branch of city government. The City of Evansville is the county seat for Vanderburgh County. In recent years there has been a considerable push to unify the Evansville city and Vanderburgh county governments. [http://www.citycountystudy.com/] The current proposal calls for a Mayor and Deputy Mayor, who would be appointed by the mayor, and a 15 member Metro Council composed of 15 persons: Three at-large members and 12 members elected by the Voters of the City. Currently the proposal is under review and has not received the necessary support from area state representatives and senators. Vanderburgh County's delegation to the Indiana State House of Representatives is comprised of four representatives: Dennis Avery (District 75), Trent van Haaften (District 76), Phil Hoy (District 77), and Suzanne Crouch (District 78). Evansville and Vanderburgh County are represented by two state senators. In general, the southern third of the county and Armstrong Township are part of District 49, currently held by Larry Lutz. The county's west side is also in District 49. Most of the county is in District 50, which extends to the east, by a seat held by Vaneeta Becker. The region is located in the 8th District of Indiana ([http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/in08_109.gif map]) and served by U.S. Representative John Hostettler.

Education

The city and county are divided into a nationally recognized public school system of 20 elementary schools, 11 middle schools, and five public high schools. In addition there are two Catholic high schools, one private, and a charter school.
- Signature School, Indiana's first Four Star charter high school, is currently seeking to become an International Baccalaureate Programme.
  - Evansville Day School offers grades K-12. The school's enrollment including all grades is 258. Though often just two universities are listed for Evansville, the University of Southern Indiana (USI) and the University of Evansville, Indiana University School of Medicine also has a presence in the city. The [http://shaw.medlib.iupui.edu/ecme/ecmepage.htm Evansville Center for Medical Education] is located on the campus of USI. Both Ivy Tech State College and ITT Tech have locations in the city as well.

Transportation

Ivy Tech State College] Immediate access to all major forms of transportation makes Evansville an important factor in Indiana's global economy. The city boasts an excellent road, rail, water, and air transportation system. It is bounded on the north by Interstate 64, extending west to St. Louis, Missouri and east to Louisville, Kentucky. Interstate 164 provides a convenient link from Interstate 64 to the city's thriving eastside retail district and a direct route to Henderson, Kentucky. Interstate 69 will soon be extended to Evansville, creating a new international trade corridor from Canada to the Rio Grande Valley. Engineering design began in 1997 and construction schedules are currently being planned. The Evansville Regional Airport, housed in a 140,000 sq. ft. terminal, offers over 50 flights a day to destinations around the country. A complimentary shuttle service is offered from the airport to major hotels. The Metropolitan Evansville Transit System (METS) provides bus transportation to all sections of the city.

Business & Employment

Evansville is the regional center for a large trade area in Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois. Originally a ferry landing, the town was founded in 1812 by Hugh McGary. Later, it was the terminus of a failed Wabash & Erie Canal (1853), a furniture and cigar manufacturing capital (into the early 1900s when German immigrants shaped the city's character), a railroad and refrigerator center, and lately a plastics industry kingpin. During the final third of the 20th century, the transition was made from a small river town to a commerical, medical, and service hub for a tri-state region with 700,000 residents. Many of the city's businesses, including Mead Johnson Nutritionals, a division of Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Whirlpool Corporation are part of multinational operations. A 1990s economic spurt was fueled by the growth of the University of Southern Indiana, which now has 10,000 students, and the arrival of giant Toyota and AK Steel plants as well as Casino Aztar, Indiana's first gaming boat. Evansville is also the corporate headquarters for Accuride, Atlas Van Lines, Berry Plastics, Old National Bank, Shoe Carnival, and Vectren. The City of Evansville also offers a unique pro-business tax structure for companies locating inside the Evansville Urban Enterprise Zone. Established in 1983 as one of only six enterprise zones in the State of Indiana, the 2.1 square mile Evansville Urban Enterprise Zone offers inventory tax credits and other tax credits to eligible businesses.

Media

The principal daily newspaper is the Evansville Courier & Press, which is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company. The newspaper also publishes the monthly Evansville Business Journal for the region. Evansville Living, a bi-monthly city magazine published by the Tucker Publishing Group, showcases the people, businesses, and community. The city has a total of 30 radio stations that include adult contemporary, big band, classical, jazz, rock, country, oldies, and easy listening formats. The University of Evansville's WUEV FM is a non-commercial station that plays a variety of alternative, classical, and jazz music. Evansville is the 100th-largest television market in the United States according to Nielsen Media Research. The local broadcast television stations are:
- WEHT ABC Channel 25
- WEVV CBS Channel 44
- WTVW FOX Channel 7
- WFIE NBC Channel 14
- WTSN PAX Channel 63
- WNIN PBS Channel 9
- WWAZ WB Channel 19

History

Settled by pioneer immigrants some 200 years ago, the city of Evansville is situated on a gentle horseshoe bend on the Ohio River. The first cabin built in Evansville was built in 1809, home of George Miller. As testament to the Ohio's grandeur, the early French explorers named it La Belle Riviere ("The Beautiful River"). Before the pioneers, Evansville was home first to an ancient community of Native Americans called the Mississippians. Evansville was laid out in 1817, and was named in honor of Robert Morgan Evans (1783-1844), one of its founders, who was an officer under then General William Henry Harrison in the War of 1812. It soon became a thriving commercial town, with an extensive river trade, was incorporated in 1819, and received a city charter in 1847. The completion of the Wabash and Erie Canal, in 1843, from Evansville to Toledo, Ohio, a distance of 400 miles, greatly accelerated the city's growth. Evansville's first railroad company, Evansville & Crawfordsville Railroad, was built in 1850. Evansville's main street was paved in 1889. In 1932 the first bridge from Evansville crossing the Ohio River was built. On November 6, 2005, the Evansville Tornado of November 2005 caused 22 deaths in Newburgh and Evansville.

Famous People from Evansville


- Chic Anderson, sportscaster
- Andy Benes, baseball player
- Bud Boetticher, director of western movies and Ohio State University football star
- Avery Brooks, actor - Uncle Tom's Cabin, American History X, A Man Called Hawk, Spenser: For Hire, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
- Calbert Cheaney, NBA basketball player
- Elbert Frank Cox, mathematician
- Neal Doughty, keyboard player, REO Speedwagon
- Louis J. Koch, creator of Holiday World
- Ron Glass, actor "Barney Miller", "Firefly"
- Bob Griese, football player
- Roy Halston Frowick fashion designer (graduated from Bosse High School)
- Bob Hamilton, professional golfer and winner of the 1944 PGA Championship
- Lee Hamilton, former U.S. Congressman
- Kevin Hardy, football player
- Don Mattingly, baseball player
- Walter McCarty, NBA basketball player
- Michael Michele, actress - "ER"
- Marilyn Miller, stage and screen actress of the 1920s - 30s
- Robert D. Orr (1917-2004), former governor of Indiana
- Paul Osborn (1901-1988), playwright, including screenplay for East of Eden
- Scott Rolen, baseball player
- Ray Ryan, oil man, property developer, gambler and multi-millionaire
- Ruth Siems, Stove Top Stuffing creator
- Larry Stallings, NFL linebacker
- Matt Williams TV producer - "The Cosby Show", "Roseanne", "Home Improvement", playwright

Trivia


- The national headquarters Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is located in Evansville.
- The first Sears department store was opened on October 5, 1925 in Evansville.
- The Evansville Crimson Giants were a National Football League team from 1921-2. The MLB Triple A Evansville Triplets played in Evansville from 1970-1984.

See Also


- List of cities and towns along the Ohio River

External Links


- [http://www.frogfollies.org/ Frog Follies]
- [http://www.evansvillecvb.org Evansville Convention & Visitors Bureau]
- [http://www.evansville.net/user/boneyard/index.html The Evansville Boneyard]
- [http://www.emuseum.org/ Evansville's museum]
- [http://www.evansvilleotters.com/ Evansville Otters]
- [http://www.evpl.org/ Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library] Category:All-America City Category:Cities in Indiana Category:Vanderburgh County, Indiana

West Side Nut Club

The West Side Nut Club is an organization that aims to promote civic welfare in the city of Evansville, Indiana. The slogan of the organization is “From small acorns large oaks grow.” While the organization maintains that the origin of the term “Nut Club” is unclear, some maintain that it alludes to the slogan, indicating the origin of the “large oaks.”

History

The club was established in 1921 by a small group of businessmen and merchants to promote the west side of Evansville. Membership in the club is limited to 300 members, and is currently at the maximum. While the organization still acts as a civic organization, it also supports scholarships and sponsors local festivals, the highlight being the annual West Side Nut Club Fall Festival, held every October. This festival,first held in 1924, is one of the larger festivals in the Midwestern United States, drawing crowds in excess of 100,000 annually. Further, the Club supports local schools, organizations, and groups through annual donations.

External links


- [http://www.nutclub.org/about.shtml About the West Side Nut Club] Category:Evansville, Indiana

United States of America

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded1 from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in time of war. The combined United States armed forces consist of 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Military conscription ended in 1973. The United States Armed forces are considered to be the most powerful military (of any sort) on Earth and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other nation. The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, which is an increase of 4% over 2004 and of 35% since 2001. Over 50% of that number is spent in research & development. (For comparison, in 2004 the European Union (considered as the second-largest military force) had a combined total of 1.6 million troops, and a defense budget of €160 billion, with less than 10% of that being spent on R&D.)

Largest cities

The United States has dozens of major cities, including 11 of the 55 global cities of all types — with three "alpha" global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The figures expressed below are for populations within city limits. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations, although the top three would be unchanged. Note that some cities not listed (such as Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) are still considered important on the basis of other factors and issues, including culture, economics, heritage, and politics. The twenty largest cities, based on the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, are as follows:

Economy

The United States has the largest single-country economy in the world, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $40,100. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. gross domestic product The largest industry of the U.S. is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the U.S. work force. The United States has many natural resources, including oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, the U.S. is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces goods such as, cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others. Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being largely dependent on a certain city or region; New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries; Silicon Valley is the country’s primary location for high-technology companies, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry; the Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; the Southeast is a major hub for both medical research and the textiles industry. Several countries continue to link their currency to the dollar or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. Many markets are also quoted in dollars, such as those of oil and gold. The dollar is also the predominant reserve currency in the world, and more than half of global reserves are in dollars. The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (19%), followed by China (12%), Mexico (11%), and Japan (8%). More than 50% of total trade is with these four countries. In 2003, the United States was ranked as the third most visited tourist destination in the world; its 40,400,000 visitors ranked behind France's 75,000,000 and Spain's 52,500,000. Labor unions have existed since the 19th century, and grew large and powerful from the 1930s to the 1950s. See Labor history of the United States. Since 1970 they have shrunk in the private sector and now cover fewer than 8% of the workers. However union membership has grown rapidly in the public sector, especially among teachers, nurses, police, postal workers, and municipal clerks. There have been few strikes in recent years. The United States' imports exceed exports by 80%, leading to an annual trade deficit of $700,000,000,000, or 6% of gross domestic product. It is the largest debtor nation in the world, with total gross foreign debt of over $13,000,000,000,000 (2005 estimate); and it absorbs more than 50% of global savings annually. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has increased the use of neoliberal economic policies that reduce government intervention and reduce the size of the welfare state, backing away from the more interventionist Keynsian economic policies that had been in favor since the Great Depression. As a result, the United States provides fewer government-delivered social welfare services than most industrialized nations, choosing instead to keep its tax burden lower and relying more heavily on the free market and private charities. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages higher than the national level ($5.15 per-hour), including the highest, Washington State at $7.35. Twenty-six states are the same as the federal level; two--Ohio and Kansas--are below; and six do not have state laws. America's wealth is relatively highly concentrated. The average C.E.O. earns 500 times the typical amount a worker grosses, this is up from 25 times in the late 1970s. In terms of wealth the top 1% of Americans own 40% of all assets and 50.1% of the country's income goes to the top twenty percent of households. Average wages for the majority of employees have been largely stagnating since the 1970s. America's poverty line defined as a family of four earning less than $19,157 is at 12.7% of the general population. Approximately one out of every five children in the United States grows up below the official poverty line. Among racial groups; African Americans have the lowest median income while Asians had the highest. Regionally, the southern states had the lowest median incomes while the West Coast and New England had the highest. The current Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan remarked that the U.S.’s growing income inequality since the 1970s is, "not the type of thing which a democratic society - a capitalist democratic society - can really accept without addressing."[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0614/p01s03-usec.html?s=itm] However, Greenspan also noted, "...you can look at the system and say it's got a lot of problems to it, and sure it does. It always has. But you can't get around the fact that this is the most extraordinarily successful economy in history."

Transportation

Alan Greenspan ]] Because the United States is a relatively young nation, most of the development of U.S. cities has taken place since the invention of the automobile. To link its vast territory, the United States built a network of high-capacity, high-speed highways, of which the most important element is the Interstate Highway system, commissioned in the 1950s by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and modeled after the German Autobahn. The United States also has a transcontinental rail system, which is used for moving freight across the lower forty-eight states. Passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak, which serves forty-six of the lower forty-eight states. Many cities in the United States have extensive mass-transit systems. New York City operates one of the world's largest and most heavily used subway systems. The regional rail and bus networks that extend into Long Island, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and Connecticut are among the most heavily used in the world. Air travel is often preferred for destinations over 300 miles (500 kilometers) away. In terms of passengers, seventeen of the world's thirty busiest airports in 2004 were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; in terms of cargo, in the same year, twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Memphis International Airport. There are several major seaports in the United States; the three busiest are the Port of Los Angeles, California; the Port of Long Beach, California; and the Port of New York and New Jersey. Others include Houston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington; plus, outside the contiguous forty-eight states, Anchorage, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Society

Demographics

Hawaii The mean center of the U.S. population continues to drift farther west and south. The fastest growing region is the western United States followed by the southern portion. According to Census 2000, the states that saw the greatest increases from 1990 were: Nevada (66.3%), Arizona (40%), Colorado (30.6%), Utah (29.6%), Idaho (28.5%), Georgia (26.4%), Florida (23.5%), Texas (22.8%), North Carolina (21.4%), and Washington (21.1%). [http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t2/tab03.pdf]

Ethnicity and race

:Main article: Racial demographics of the United States The United States is a very racially diverse country. According to the 2000 census, it has 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, and numerous others represented in smaller amounts. The majority of Americans descend from white European immigrants who arrived at the establishment of the first colonies (most after Reconstruction). This majority--69.1% in 2000--decreases each year, and is expected to become a plurality within a few decades. The most frequently stated European ancestries are German (15.2%), Irish (10.8%), English (8.7%), Italian (5.6%) and Scandinavian (3.7%). Many immigrants also hail from Slavic countries such as Poland and Russia. Other significant immigrant populations came from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada. Russia Hispanics from Mexico and South and Central America are the largest minority group in the country, comprising 12.5% of the population (2000 census). People of Mexican descent made up 7.3% of the population in the 2000 census, and this proportion is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades. About 12.3% (2000 census) of the American people are African Americans (Blacks). African Americans are spread throughout the country, but their presence is largest in the South. Asian Americans--including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders--are a third significant minority (3.7% of the population in 2000). Most Asian Americans are concentrated on the West Coast and Hawaii. The largest groups are immigrants or descendants of emigrants from the Philippines, China, India, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan. Indigenous peoples in the United States, such as American Indians and Inuit, make up 0.9% of the population (2000 census). About 35% live on Indian reservations.

Religion

Polls estimate that just under 80 percent of Americans are Christians of various denominations. The other 20 percent comprises other religions such as Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, other various faiths, and those without a specific religion. The United States is noteworthy among developed nations for its relatively high level of religiosity. According to a 2004 Gallup poll, about 44% of Americans attend a religious service at least once a week. However, this rate is not uniform across the country; attendance is more common in the Bible Belt—composed largely of Southern and Midwestern states—than in the Northeast and West Coast. In the Southern states, Baptists are the largest group, followed by Methodists; Roman Catholics are dominant in the Northeast and in large parts of the Midwest due to their being settled by descendants of Catholic immigrants from Europe (such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Poland) or other parts of North America (mainly Quebec and Puerto Rico). The rest of the country for the most part has a complex mixture of various Christian groups.

Education

West Coast's home at Monticello and the University of Virginia (library building shown above, and designed by Jefferson), the only collegiate campus on the list. Both sites are located in Charlottesville, Virginia.]] In the United States, education is a state, not federal, responsibility, and the laws and standards vary considerably. However, the federal government, through the Department of Education, is involved with funding of some programs and exerts some influence through its ability to control funding. In most states, all students must attend mandatory schooling starting with kindergarten, which children normally enter at age 5, and following through 12th grade, which is normally complete

Mardi Gras

::For other carnival season celebrations see the article on Carnival. For the 1972 album, see Mardi Gras (album). For the British extortionist known as the "Mardi Gra bomber" see Edgar Pearce. Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday") is the day before Ash Wednesday, and is also called "Shrove Tuesday". It is the final day of Carnival (pronounced "CAR-nuh-vul" in English; "car-nee-VAHL" in most Romance languages). It is a celebration that is held just before the beginning of the Christian liturgical season of Lent. The feast should not be confused with the Polish Fat Thursday. Fat Thursday

Dates

The date can vary from February 3 to March 9 in non-leap years or February 4 to March 9 in leap years. Like Lent, the date is dependent on that of Easter. Mardi Gras falls on the following dates in the following years:
- 2006 - February 28
- 2007 - February 20
- 2008 - February 5
- 2009 - February 24
- 2010 - February 16
- 2011 - March 8
- 2012 - February 21
- 2013 - February 12
- 2014 - March 4

Locations

Perhaps the cities most famous for their Mardi Gras celebrations include New Orleans (whose gay][Carnival]] has become legendary), Rio de Janeiro (known for having the most ostentatious and licentious Carnival), Venice (whose Carnival traditions have their roots in paganism, and were shaped into what they are today during the Renaissance), and Cologne. Many other places have important Mardi Gras celebrations as well. Carnival is an important celebration in most of Europe (Especially Southern Europe), and in many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean. Las Vegas and San Diego are cities with a growing celebration for this event as well. Image:Making next years float.jpg

Quebec

In Quebec the Carnival period traditionally coincided with the coldest days of the year when temperatures dropped to forty degrees below zero, linking it to snow and ice sports. As a result the biggest festival there, the Quebec City Winter Carnival was eventually moved from a lunar calendar, set with Easter in mind, to a solar calendar, and other winter carnivals in Quebec followed suit, abandoning the traditional Christian dates and placing the midwinter celebration at the end of January and the beginning of February, in order to avoid the danger of a late February or early March meltdown of carnival ice sculptures, ice castles and snow trails snow ball fight.

Newfoundland

In Newfoundland Mardi Gras is celebrated the weekend before Halloween in the capital city of St. John's. Unlike more traditional Mardi Gras celebrations, the Newfoundland celebration is largely a commercial event centered around St. John's famous George Street pub district. Each year the street is closed off for a weekend of celebrations, with participants generally dressed in Halloween attire.

Brazil

In Brazil, the Carnival celebrations in Recife, Olinda, Salvador are well-known, among others. See: Brazilian Carnival

Caribbean

In the Caribbean, Carnival is celebrated on a number of islands. The most famous and largest-scale of these is in Trinidad and Tobago. Other Carnivals are held on Aruba, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and the French West Indies.

United States

Within the United States, it was originally celebrated by French settlers along the Mississippi coast of the Gulf of Mexico as a series of house parties. Recently Mardi Gras has taken root in several major cities in the USA as the event contributes to help local economies bring revenues.

Mobile

Mobile, Alabama has perhaps the longest tradition of observed Mardi Gras celebration in the United States, and still celebrates it each year. Only New Orleans holds a larger Mardi Gras celebration. Celebration of Mardi Gras in Mobile dates back to French colonial times. Celebrations were halted with the American Civil War, but were revived with a parade by Joe Cain in 1866, whose memory is still honored each Carnival. The Mobile Mardi Gras season is always concluded by the Order of Myths parade, produced by the society of the same name. This is a special honor, because the 'double-O M's' are the oldest continuous Mardi Gras society in America. Throughout each parade, mystic maskers throw trinkets, beads, candy, coins and Moon Pies, a sweet baked good that combines a graham cracker like crust with marshmallow, and is then covered in a flavored frosting.

Pensacola

Pensacola, Florida is home to the third largest Mardi Gras Celebration in the United States. This is probably due to it being geographically near Mobile, Alabama, although other possibilities exist. The Pensacola celebrations also use Moon Pies in combination with beads, coins, and small candies.

Galveston

Galveston, Texas is home to a notable Mardi Gras festival, which is held in the historic Strand District on Galveston Island on the Texas Gulf Coast. It is considerably smaller than New Orleans Mardi Gras, but still brings in many tourists to Galveston.

New Orleans

Main article: New Orleans Mardi Gras New Orleans Mardi Gras New Orleans Mardi Gras is particularly well-known, often called "the greatest free show on earth". The celebrations draw many tourists to the city in addition to the celebrating locals for the parties and parades. Mardi Gras came to New Orleans with the earliest French settlers. New Orleans developed new traditions, as have other places ever since. New Orleans traditions include Krewes such as the Krewe du Vieux, the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club, and the famous Rex parade, in addition to Mardi Gras Indians and king cake parties. There are as many as 60 Krewes that have parades in the greater New Orleans area. Officially, Mardi Gras, more properly called Carnivale, starts at the end of the twelfth day of Christmas. Most parades, balls and other festivities occur on weeknights and weekends in the 2-week period before Mardi Gras Day. Though each parade is unique, there are certain common ingredients: 1) either a King or Queen who reigns over the parade, picked from the Krewe membership; 2) gaily colored floats, ridden by Krewe members, who throw various items, including beads, doubloons with the Krewe emblem and often, that year's parade's theme, and assorted other fun items; 3) marching bands, usually from high schools and universities, but often other invited guest bands. Particularly since the inception of the larger parade organizations (sometimes called "super krewes") such as Bacchus and Endymion, it has become fashionable to invite Hollywood and other celebrities to act as Grand Marshals for parades.

Elsewhere in Louisiana

Mardi Gras is a legal holiday in Louisiana. Other places in the Greater New Orleans Metro Area also have celebrations; notably the suburb of Metairie, Louisiana has large parades. Without the restrictions on commercial ties to parades of Orleans Parish, there is much advertising and trademark placements on the parades there. Metairie parades also tend to be more family-oriented, and include even a Children's parade. In parts of the Cajun country of southwestern Louisiana, the traditional Courir du Mardi Gras (French - Running of the Mardi Gras) is still run, sometimes by maskers on horseback who gather ingredients for making the communal meal. The townspeople will gather in costume and move from home to home requesting ingredients for the night's meal. The requested homeowner may comply with their wishes, usually by giving some form of vegetable or live animal, such as a chicken or pig, to the members of the run. The homeowner will often release the animal and make the runners catch it. In many cases, if the homeowner refuses to give an ingredient, the runners will steal one. These Courir can be witnessed in Church Point, Louisiana, Eunice, Louisiana, Mamou, Louisiana, Ville Platte, Louisiana, and Elton, Louisiana. The costumes used in these events are often homemade, emloying sheets, paints, and frequently masks of wire mesh with conical hats. Many small towns and cities throughout southern Louisiana have Mardi Gras parades in the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras day, and particularly on that day. There are also Mardi Gras parades in Northern Louisiana in Shreveport, Louisiana by the Krewe of Centaur and the Krewe of Gemini and in Monroe, Louisiana and West Monroe, Louisiana by the Krewe of Janus. Mardi Gras is one of only three exceptions to [http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=78402 the Louisiana law] against wearing hoods and masks in public, the other two being Halloween and religious beliefs.

Saint Louis

The largest Mardi Gras celebration in the United States outside of New Orleans and Mobile is in the Soulard area of St. Louis, Missouri.

San Diego

As of 2005, there is a corporate sponsored party in the Gaslamp Quarter of downtown San Diego.

Mexico

In Mexico, there are big Carnival celebrations every year in Mazatlan and Veracruz that include the election of a queen and street parades.

Belgium

In Binche the "Mardi Gras" is the most important day of the year and the summit of the [http://www.carnavaldebinche.be Carnival of Binche]. Around 1000 [http://www.carnavaldebinche.be/img/galeries/mardipm/mardipm04_8.jpg Gilles] are dancing through the city from 4.00 AM to late hours on traditional carnival songs. In 2003, the Carnival of Binche was proclaimed one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

Sydney

Also see Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

External links


- [http://www.mardigrasdigest.com Mardi Gras Digest News, Researched Articles and information on Mardi Gras]
- [http://www.thisisthelife.com/en/carnivals-festivals/mardi-gras.htm Article on Mardi Gras at ThisIsTheLife.com]
- [http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/ Mardi Gras in New Orleans]
- Category:Religious festivals Category:Music festivals Category:Parades Category:Carnival als:Fastnachtsdienstag ja:マルディグラ

Minnie Pearl

Minnie Pearl was the stage name of Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon (October 25, 1912 - March 4, 1996). She was a country comedienne who appeared frequently on the Grand Ole Opry, and on the television show Hee Haw from 1970 to 1991. She was known for wearing a big hat with a price tag ($1.98) hanging off the side. Sarah Ophelia Colley was born in Centerville, Tennessee. She graduated from what was then Nashville, Tennessee's most prestigious school for young ladies, Ward-Belmont. Her family, relatively affluent by the standards of the area and the day, was somewhat scandalized by her entry into "show business", and at first her involvement was more as a booking agent, business manager, and facilitator than as a performer. As a performer, her comedy was always a rather gentle and loving satire of her hometown of Centerville, about fifty miles (eighty km) west of Nashville in Hickman County, Tennessee. Her catch phrase was always, "Howdeeee! I'm just so proud to be here!" delivered at what seemed to have been the top of her lungs. Once she was an established star, her audience almost invariably shouted "Howdeeee!" back to her. Her monologues almost always involved her comical relatives, notably "Uncle Nabob" and "Brother", who was somehow both slow-witted and wise, simultaneously. Her frequent bow-off line to applause was "I love you so much it hurts!" She called her hometown in her act Grinder's Switch, a real location just outside of Centerville, Tennessee which consisted of little more than the eponymous railroad switch; those who knew her knew that the characters were largely based on real residents of Centerville. (So much unwarranted traffic to Grinder's Switch looking for the hometown she described was generated by tourists following the road sign that the Hickman County Highway Department was finally motivated to change the designation on the sign to "Hickman Spri