For many people, this time of year is filled with making lists, travel, sweet treats and a busy social calendar. It also means that people will be feeling the effects of lighter wallets, too. Holiday spending (and often overspending) is something that happens to a lot of Americans this time of year. We shop for our families, for our employees and maybe even a […]
Just about everyone knows the story of the Pilgrims and Indians, and how Thanksgiving is believed to have started in 1621 with a three-day feast to celebrate a bountiful harvest. Due to that first Thanksgiving, Americans are able to enjoy an annual feast of gigantic proportions, nap on the couch, watch some football and argue with our favorite relatives. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, […]
With Veterans Day coming up this week, we thought this would be a great chance to learn more about how the holiday started and why it’s observed in the United States. Veterans Day was actually established as “Armistice Day” in 1919, which marked the end of World War I, and eventually became a national holiday in 1938. President Eisenhower signed legislation in 1954 to change […]
This Sunday marks the end of Daylight Saving Time (DST) for our area (often called daylight savings time). Daylight Saving Time is commonly known as the practice of moving clocks forward one hour in the spring, then back one hour in the fall. It was originally intended to boost energy efficiency and to allow people to have more daylight hours for outdoor work productivity. […]
The celebration of Halloween dates back nearly 2,000 years, when it had quite a different tone. What started out associated with witches, ghosts and vampires has turned into a more kid-friendly occasion that is linked to carving pumpkins and eating candy. In the United States, Halloween is also a very profitable holiday for retailers and candy manufacturers. Trick-or-treating is a big deal, whether you have […]
This week marks the return of the Bikes, Blues and BBQ motorcycle rally to Northwest Arkansas for the 18th time. If you are anywhere on the highways of the state during this week, you are very likely to notice an influx of motorcycle, trailer and motor home traffic headed north for the event. The rally is expected to bring in around 400,000 people to the area, […]
Earlier this year, the population of the United States rolled over 325 million, according to the United States Census Bureau. The U.S. and World Population Clock is a live estimate of interesting population facts, housed on the Bureau’s website. It uses past census numbers to make projections about current and future population numbers. The site reports that there is one birth every […]
As August ends and Labor Day approaches, many people commonly associate the holiday with the ending of summer. Kids go back to school, the days get shorter and many U.S. workers enjoy a day off work before heading into the grind of the last quarter of the year. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the observation of Labor Day likely started in 1882 when workers […]
Unless you’ve been on a secluded island for the past year or so, you probably have heard about the solar eclipse that we will get to experience next Monday, August 21. This event is being labeled “The Great American Eclipse,” because it’s the first total eclipse to happen in 38 years, and will be visible in all of North America, at varying degrees of coverage. […]
Summertime means travel time for a lot of Americans. Whether you are a world adventurer, or prefer to stay closer to home, the pitfalls of travel can be similar. Even the most thorough planners will occasionally forget an important item or miss a flight. While it can certainly be frustrating, it doesn’t have to ruin your vacation. There are a few common suggestions […]