Community Corner

How Americans are Celebrating the Fourth

Today, many of us are waving flags and watching fireworks made in China and eating food from Idaho, Iowa, North Dakota and Florida.

Why do we celebrate the Fourth of July? Because 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 is being marked by parades, fireworks and backyard barbecues across Patch communities and the country.

Here are some interesting statistics about the holiday, complied by the United States Census Bureau.

Number of Americans Celebrating

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2.5 million in July 1776: The estimated number of people living in the newly independent nation.
Source: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970, census.gov/prod/www/abs/statab.html

311.7 million in July 2011: The nation's estimated population on this Fourth of July.
Source: Population clock, census.gov/main/www/popclock.html

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American flag imports

$3.2 million in 2010: The dollar value of U.S. imports of American flags. Most of this amount ($2.8 million) was for U.S. flags made in China.
Source: Foreign Trade Statistics, census.gov/foreign-trade/www and usatradeonline.gov

American flag exports

$486,026 in 2010: The dollar value of U.S. flags exported. Mexico was the leading customer, purchasing $256,407 worth.
Source: Foreign Trade Statistics, census.gov/foreign-trade/www and usatradeonline.gov

Fireworks

$190.7 million: The value of fireworks imported from China in 2010, representing the bulk of all U.S. fireworks imported ($197.3 million).
$37.0 million in 2010: The value of fireworks the U.S. exported. Japan was the U.S.'s biggest customer, purchasing more than any other country ($6.3 million).
Source: Foreign Trade Statistics, census.gov/foreign-trade/www and usatradeonline.gov

Fourth of July cookout menu

Hot dogs and pork sausages

More than 1 in 4: The chances 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. This estimate represents more than one-fourth of the nation’s estimated total. North Carolina had 8.6 million and Minnesota, 7.6 million.
Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service,
usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=1086

Baked beans

More than 1 in 3: 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.
Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/VegeSumm/VegeSumm-01-27-2011_new_format.pdf

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.
Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/CropProdSu/CropProdSu-01-12-2011_new_format.pdf and usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/VegeSumm/VegeSumm-01-27-2011.pdf

Potatoes

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, the probable source of your potato salad and potato chips.
Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/VegeSumm/VegeSumm-01-27-2011_new_format.pdf

Watermelon

Florida led the nation in watermelon production last year, with 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.
Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service,
usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/VegeSumm/VegeSumm-01-27-2011_new_format.pdf

Number of barbecues

81 million Americans said they took part in a barbecue in 2010. It’s probably safe to assume a lot of these took place on Independence Day.
Source: Mediamark Research & Intelligence, as cited in the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2011 census.gov/compendia/statab/ , Table 1239


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