The celebration of our Declaration of Independence wouldn’t be complete without food, fun, fireworks and plenty of red, white and blue!
1. Traffic
41.9 Million: Number of People Traveling at Least 50 Miles.
35.5 Million: Number of People Travelling by Car … kinda feels like they all visit Maine…
2. Food
150 Million: Number of Hot Dogs Consumed Over the Weekend. Nothing says FREEDOM like processed tubes of meat!
About 700 million pounds of chicken are purchased in the U.S. during the week leading up to Independence Day, and 190 million pounds of beef are snatched up in the two weeks preceding the Fourth.
Beer sales also tend to shoot up like fireworks as the Fourth of July approaches (duh). More than 103 million Americans drank beer on 2013’s Independence Day, with more than 68 million cases sold over the weekend.
3. Fireworks
China provides the U.S. with the bulk of this Independence Day necessity. Of the $257.8 million in fireworks America imported in 2014, $247.1 million (about 95.8 percent) comes from China. Kind of ironic.
10,500: Number of People Injured by Fireworks in 2014 … when it says KEEP AWAY FROM FACE, they really mean it.
4. Patriotism
$3.6 Million: Amount of American Flag Imports
Millions of American flags are actually manufactured abroad. Nearly all of them – 97 percent – came from China last year, which sold us $3.5 million worth. VERY ironic. Feels kind of wrong, right?
The U.S. exports plenty of flags as well. Turkey happens to be the biggest buyer of American-made flags, having purchased $673,000 worth from the U.S. last year.
48 Million: Consumers Shopping for Red, White and Blue
Photo Courtesy of AP Images
[usnews.com]
