Fun Facts about the 4th of July! Vancouver Washington Real Estate

4th of July in Vancouver Wa.

 

On this day in 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress, setting the 13 colonies on the road to freedom as a sovereign nation. As always, this most American of holidays will be marked by parades, fireworks and backyard barbecues across the country. (I love how they include backyard BBQs!)

2.5 million
In July 1776, this is the estimated number of people living in the newly independent nation.¹

311.7 million
This figure is the nation's estimated population on July 4, 2011.²

Flags
$3.2 million
In 2010, U.S. imports of American flags came to this sizable sum. The vast majority of this amount ($2.8 million) was for U.S. flags made in China.^{3 (I think it is the Chinese who are really pushing the 4th of July celebration. See below for the cash they make in firework sales! Whose celebration is this anyways!?)}

$486,026
This total value of U.S. flags exported in 2010 was led by leading customer, Mexico, purchasing $256,407 worth.^{3 (This is EXACTLY the reason that I celebrate Cinco de Mayo!. That and the tequila!)}

$302.7 million
Shipments of fabricated flags, banners and similar emblems by the nation's manufacturers, reached this annual total for 2007.⁴

Fireworks
$190.7 million
This value of fireworks imported from China in 2010, represented the bulk of all U.S. fireworks imported ($197.3 million).^{3
(Chinese fireworks, more american than Apple Pie?)}

$231.8 million
This is the value of U.S. manufacturers' shipments of fireworks and pyrotechnics (including flares, igniters, etc.) in 2007.⁴

The British Are Coming!
$98.3 billion
A fine sum was traded last year between the United States and the United Kingdom, making the British, our adversary in 1776, our sixth-leading trading partner today.⁵

Fourth of July Cookouts
More than 1 in 4
There's a 25 percent chance that the hot dogs and pork sausages consumed on the Fourth of July originated in Iowa. The Hawkeye State was home to 19.0 million hogs and pigs on March 1, 2011. This estimate represents more than one-fourth of the nation's estimated total.⁶

6.8 billion pounds
The total production of cattle and calves in Texas in 2010 comes to an outstanding weight. Chances are good that the beef hot dogs, steaks and burgers on your backyard grill came from the Lone Star State, which accounted for about one-sixth of the nation's total production. And if the beef did not come from Texas, it very well may have come from Nebraska (4.6 billion pounds) or Kansas (4.1 billion pounds).⁶

SIX
There are six states in which the value of broiler chicken production was $1 billion or greater between December 2009 and November 2010. There is a good chance that one of these states - Georgia, Arkansas, North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi or Texas - is the source of your barbecued chicken.⁶

Over 1 in 3
This is the odds that your side dish of baked beans originated from North Dakota, which produced 36 percent of the nation's dry, edible beans in 2010. Another popular Fourth of July side dish is corn on the cob. Florida, California, Georgia, Washington and New York together accounted for 68 percent of the fresh market sweet corn produced nationally in 2010.⁶

1 in 2
Potato salad and potato chips are popular food items at Fourth of July barbecues. Approximately half of the nation's spuds were produced in Idaho or Washington state in 2010.⁶

More than three-fourths
Most of the nation's head lettuce production in 2010 came from California. This lettuce may end up in your salad or on your burger.⁶

7 in 10
Chances are high that the fresh tomatoes in your salad came from Florida or California, which, combined, accounted for 71 percent of U.S. fresh market tomato production last year.⁶

Florida
This southern state led the nation in watermelon production last year (750 million pounds). Other leading producers of this popular fruit included California, Georgia and Texas; each had an estimate of more than 600 million pounds.⁶

81 million
Americans love barbecues. And the number of folks who said they have taken part in a barbecue during the previous year proves it. It's probably safe to assume a lot of these events took place on Independence Day.^{7 (Only 81 million? what happended to the rest of you slackers?!}

 

Source:
1 Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970
  http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/statab.html
2 Population clock
  http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html
3 Foreign Trade Statistics
  http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/www/ and http://www.usatradeonline.gov
4 2007 Economic Census, Series EC0731SP1, Products and Services Code 3149998231
  http://www.census.gov/econ/census07/
5 Foreign Trade Statistics
  http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade
6 USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service
  http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/
7 Mediamark Research & Intelligence, as cited in the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2011
  http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/

 

 

 

Mark Hall

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