On the first Saturday in September National Tailgating Day reminds us what the autumn colors and scents already do. Those colors signal grilling time and a season of cheering on our favorite teams!
Tailgating is the custom of gathering outside the stadium before the game with fans of the same team for food, beverages and socializing. Gatherings often take place at the tailgate of a pickup truck or the trunk of a car. However, neither are required. Staples of a tailgate party include grilling and beer, though chili competitions and recipe challenges encourage friendly competition before the game. Come hungry!
The original tailgate is unknown. Many teams take pride in claiming this title, as they should. Some writers even suggest the many observers in attendance at the Battle of Bull Run in 1861 to be the very first tailgaters, with their picnic baskets and bottles of claret prepared to watch opposing teams. Perhaps this can be considered tailgating.
Today, tailgating centers around the sport of football. While football has its roots in the game of rugby, it is generally accepted that the first football game in United States history was on November 6, 1869. The match took place between Rutgers and Princeton Universities. On that day fans arrived early to enjoy each others company and some food.
Much like building a community, tailgating hearkens back to a time when pioneering villages would come together to raise the framework of a building. Often followed by a large meal and perhaps a sporting competition of sorts, communities looked forward to these harvest traditions year after year.
Those who tailgate come back every year, weekend after weekend. Couples meet. Families grow. Bonds are forged – all through the community of tailgating.
NATIONAL TAILGATING DAY HISTORY
Luke Lorick, president of Tailgating Challenge, founded National Tailgating Day as a way to share his passion for the sport of tailgating.
Tailgating Challenge is one of the largest tailgating companies in the world, and Lorick sees the joy and friendships tailgating brings to many Americans every day. To learn more about Tailgating Challenge visit the website at www.tailgating-challenge.com.
HOW TO OBSERVE #NationalTailgatingDay
Put on your team colors. Bring your game face. Whip up your best batch of jalapeno poppers and get outside to watch your favorite team play this weekend! Use #NationalTailgatingDay to post on social media.
Post your tailgating pics on one of Tailgating Challenge’s social media pages:
For over two decades, the National Chicken Council has banded together with major chicken producers in the U.S. to promote chicken sales in September. As a result, September is known as National Chicken Month! This once slow month, as the summer grilling season waned, has turned into one of the year’s best performing sales periods. September might be the month we find out which came first, the chicken or the egg.
First domesticated for cockfighting, the chicken eventually made its way to the dinner table. Many families have their own homemade spice recipes. A major part of enjoying chicken is the spicing. Food experts have debated for years about the contents of KFC. White pepper, paprika, and even Thousand-Island dressing are among the eleven herbs and spices supposedly in the Colonel’s recipe.
There are 25 billion chickens in the world, making them the most abundant bird species. Did you know all vertebrate species lay eggs? And, all hard-shelled variety eggs originated with reptiles? Chickens, like many birds, are descendants of the dinosaurs. Chickens are relatively closely related to reptiles on the evolutionary chain. In recent decades, many researchers have started describing dinosaurs as more like flightless birds than reptiles. Even though chickens are not entirely flightless, they can get airborne enough to get over a fence or into a tree.
Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!
Ever wonder why so many different meats like rattlesnake and alligator apparently taste like chicken? Several explanations point to why mainstream Americans tend to have limited experience with judging flavor. Our taste buds, in other words, are not finely tuned. Our meat experiences are limited mostly to beef, pork, and chicken. A gourmet with a seasoned palette has a broader experience, which makes them more apt to identify exotic meats like rattlesnake and alligator.
Chicken is full of health benefits. When eaten without the skin, chicken is very lean. It is carb-free and rich in Vitamins B3 and B6, as well as two important minerals, phosphorus, and selenium. Various parts of the chicken are considered special treats in some countries. For instance, in China, chicken feet are considered a delicacy.
HISTORY
For over two decades, the National Chicken Council has banded together all of the major chicken producers in the U.S. to promote chicken sales in September, turning a once slow month, as the summer grilling season waned, into one of the year’s best-performing sales periods.
There are several ways to observe National Chicken Month. We recommend trying a new recipe. Whether you choose white meat, dark meat, fried, broiled, baked or warmed over, prepare your chicken the way you like it!
The Gathering of Nations is the largest pow-wow in North America. It is always the fourth weekend in April every year, on the Powwow Grounds at Expo NM, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. More than 565 tribes from around the United States and 220 from Canada travel to Albuquerque to participate.
The Gathering of Nations Pow Wow is a two-day event for all people (Indian and Non-Indian) to come see colorful Native American Pow Wow dancing, to hear the songs and become enlightened with emotional happiness!
With over 3,000+ indigenous/Native American/Indian dancers and Singers representing more than 500+ tribes from Canada and the United States come to the Gathering of Nations Pow Wow annually to participate socially and competitively.
It has been said by many that the Gathering of Nations PowWow is the Mecca of Indian Country; while others have said “There is a magic about the “Gathering.”
Many people from around the world have made the Gathering of Nations Powwow their travel destination. The Gathering of Nations has grown to become more than just a “Powwow“, it’s an experience! While the Miss Indian World Pageant has become the largest and most prestigious Cultural Pageant for young Native/Indigenous women over the years.
HISTORY
The Gathering of Nations began “unofficially” in 1983 at the University of Albuquerque, in ABQ, NM. In 1984, the event took on the name Gathering of Nations Powwow, which was held on the NM Fair Grounds in the small Horse Arena, for two challenging years. After the two years at the Horse Arena, GON knew it had to move to a larger venue.
Explore more heritages… Learning our commonalities help unite us.
Visit the Gathering of Nations website. Follow on social media with: #GatheringOfNations and #MissIndianWorldPageant Follow on Facebook Follow on Twitter
February is the year’s quiet paradox—a shortest month that somehow contains multitudes. Sandwiched between the forward momentum of January and the budding promise of March, it carves its own unique space: a 28-day (or sometimes 29-day) interlude of introspection, romance, and unpredictable charm. It’s a month that feels both fleeting and deeply significant, a hushed corridor where winter’s grip is tested by the first, fragile whispers of spring. We are fascinated by February precisely because it defies simple definition, packing a profound punch into its compact frame.
The heartbeat of February is measured in its special days, which range from the deeply sentimental to the whimsically specific. It opens with the lighthearted introspection of Groundhog Day, a folkloric checkpoint in our seasonal journey. The mood then shifts dramatically toward the warmth of Valentine’s Day on the 14th, a global celebration of love in all its forms. Be sure to check out our Valentine’s Gifts, Playlist and Movie recommendations. We also include some Date night ideas you can use for your Valentine’s night. But the month also holds space for more solemn reflection during Black History Month, a dedicated time to honor the struggles, triumphs, and central contributions of Black communities. These observances, side-by-side, create a rich emotional tapestry unique to these four weeks.
On the sports front, February delivers a thrilling one-two punch. In the United States, the month is dominated by the spectacle of the Super Bowl, an event that transcends football to become a cultural holiday of its own, complete with iconic commercials and halftime shows. Shortly after, the world turns its eyes to the grace and grit of the Winter Olympics (when they fall in this month), where athletes conquer ice and snow in a stunning display of human perseverance. The energy of these events provides a vibrant, communal contrast to the month’s often chilly and solitary weather.
And that weather is a character all its own. In the Northern Hemisphere, February is the stubborn, often brutal, climax of winter—a time of “February Freeze” where snow piles high and skies stay steel-gray. Yet, within this, are precious “February Thaws,” teasing glimpses of what’s to come. The light noticeably changes, with days growing longer, offering a silent promise that the deep freeze won’t last forever. This push-and-pull between winter’s last stand and spring’s early stirrings makes every February day a small, quiet drama.
February is divided between two astrological signs. Those born from February 1st to 18th are Aquarius, the visionary Water Bearer, known for being progressive, intellectual, and humanitarian. Those born from February 19th to the 29th are Pisces, the empathetic Fish, characterized by their creativity, intuition, and compassionate nature. This month boasts an array of famous birthdays, including inventors and presidents like Thomas Edison (Feb 11) and Abraham Lincoln (Feb 12), civil rights icons like Rosa Parks (Feb 4), and renowned artists like Bob Marley (Feb 6) and Nina Simone (Feb 21). It also includes modern figures like actor Jennifer Aniston (Feb 11) and activist Greta Thunberg (Feb 3).
Finally, February claims its own with distinctive birthday symbols. Its flowers are the violet, signifying loyalty and faithfulness, and the primrose, a hopeful symbol of young love. Its birthstone is the striking amethyst, a gem associated with peace, courage, and clarity of mind. These symbols perfectly capture the essence of the month and those born within it: a blend of deep resilience (the enduring violet), heartfelt connection (the delicate primrose), and serene strength (the luminous amethyst). In the end, February fascinates because it is a microcosm of life itself—brief, beautiful, bittersweet, and brimming with unexpected contrasts waiting to be embraced.
February 28th, National Tooth Fairy Day encourages us to take look back on the history of one of dental care’s little helpers. It’s one way our children develop good dental hygiene.
Like some of the fantastic creations who oversee children, the tooth fairy is a relative newcomer to the world of childhood fantasies.
In the mid-1920s fairies were used for all sorts of health education from bath fairies to fresh air fairies as a way to get kids to remember to eat their vegetables, wash behind their ears and get a good night’s rest. Like toothpaste, today that advertises fruity flavors and sparkles to get kids excited to brush their teeth, in 1925 it was probably quite a bit more difficult considering the pastes were mostly peroxide and baking soda. One advertisement was for a Fairy Wand Tooth Whitener. This product promised to brush away cigarette and coffee stains. The ad was aimed at both children and adults, we hope!
Then in 1927, Esther Watkins Arnold printed an eight-page playlet for children called The Tooth Fairy. It was the same year Sir Arthur Conan Doyle “proved” his claim that fairies and gnomes are real and “verified” with pictures of two little girls surrounded by fairies. The world was ripe with imagination and primed to have a tooth fairy about to come collect the lost teeth of little boys and girls and leave a coin or two behind.
Children’s author, Katie Davis, created the February 28th observance of National Tooth Fairy Day. While there is also an August 22nd observance, it is interesting to note the two observances are six months apart and the American Dental Association’s recommendation to have cleanings twice annually.
