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10 surprising facts about Tupelo, Mississippi
1. Diplo, aka Thomas Wesley Pentz, was born here.So you’ve probably heard that Elvis was born and raised in Tupelo (and if you haven’t, consider that a bonus “surprising fact!”), but he’s not the only native son of note. Diplo is one of Electronic Dance Music’s most popular performers, with multiple Billboard hits, a record company, collaborations with Beyoncé and Madonna, and several key protégées to his name. On top of all that, Pentz also founded the Heaps Decent nonprofit — proof of the truly Southern mix of graciousness and charisma that defines many Tupeloans. 2. The largest zoo in Mississippi is dedicated to buffalo…and it’s right outside town.We all know how dire the buffalo situation got for a while — near-extinction was, by the early 20th century, a sure thing. But preservation efforts over the last several decades have turned the tide. That’s why native Tupeloans Sheila and Dan Franklin transformed their one-time cattle ranch into the Tupelo Buffalo Park and Zoo, home to a herd of 300. Covering 210 acres, Buffalo Park is the state’s largest zoo by area, and exhibits many types of animals in addition to its namesake, including zebras, pythons, giraffes, and monkeys. 3. There’s live music here every night.Music is in the cultural fabric of Mississippi, and this heritage most certainly extends to Tupelo. Nightly scheduled performances and open mics take place throughout the city center. On a quick trip through, stop by The Main Attraction clothes store and coffeeshop, then head over to Nautical Whimsey, just up Main Street from the café, for acoustic sets right after dinner. A longer visit warrants some time at Link Centre, the local arts complex that hosts concerts and exhibits, along with Blue Canoe. Regardless of the venue, there’s probably a brilliant local musician playing there whatever night you’re in town. 4. Tupelo’s home to a pioneering educational center for kids.Health education can often feel like an afterthought tacked on to educational curricula, but that’s not the case in Tupelo. Based on nationwide research and innovative best practices, the HealthWorks! kids museum helps young people make smart choices using fun, interactive methods of presentation. No long, awkward talks about growing up. No ancient, irrelevant videos about hygiene; instead, there are kids’ nights, family “fun and fit” events, anatomy academies where children get to pretend to be doctors and run diagnoses, and more. It’s pretty awesome, and it’s really getting the message across — since the HealthWorks! opened in Tupelo in January 2009, it’s reached over 125,000 kids, from preschoolers to teens, and adults from across the northern Mississippi region. 5. It’s has some of Mississippi’s most beautiful “off the beaten path” parks.No trip to Tupelo is complete without a visit to Tombigbee State Park, a lakeside retreat that’s awesome for picnics. Tombigbee is six miles southeast of Tupelo, but with a car or bike access is easy. The same goes for Trace State Park on the other side of town, a smaller and more secluded spot that used to be the home of Davy Crockett. Both parks are perfect for day walks, fishing, and camping. 6. It was the first city in America to gain electric power under the New Deal.President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a fit of glorious humanity and concern, pushed his administration into nationwide initiatives to combat the Great Depression. One of the resulting organizations, the Tennessee Valley Authority, became the largest planning agency in the country. Its first major achievement: delivering reliable electricity to Tupelo in 1934. 7. There are some serious museums here.The museums in Tupelo each take at least an hour to get through, so anyone planning on seeing them all in a day or two should budget their time accordingly. Besides the excellent Elvis Presley Birthplace museum — which hosts exhibitions, an event center and theater, and a simulation of the chapel services Elvis attended as a youth — there’s the Oren Dunn City Museum, a folksy historical building in Ballard Park showcasing Tupelo’s history; and the Tupelo Veteran’s Museum, whose collections include personal diaries and letters sent home from war, cannons, fighter trucks, medals, and uniforms. The latter two museums are open weekdays only. Then there’s Tupelo Automobile Museum, which is maybe the most charming. Home to more than a hundred antique and collectible cars, from an 1886 Benz to Elvis Presley’s old Lincoln, it offers insight into the advances made in automobile engineering and design over the past century. It’s well worth walk-throughs for both kids and adults. 8. The headquarters of the Natchez Trace Parkway is in Tupelo.The Natchez Trace Parkway is a national parkway administered by the National Park Service, and was actually one of the ten most visited NPS units in 2015. It runs for 444 miles from Natchez, Mississippi, to Nashville, Tennessee; Tupelo is located close to the road’s halfway point and is home to the parkway headquarters and visitor center. Stop in to learn all about this “drive through 10,000 years of North American history,” and plan your Natchez Trace itinerary to visit standing plantations, ancient campgrounds, and the routes along which Meriwether Lewis and Andrew Jackson, as well as Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Natchez peoples, once traveled. 9. Tupelo has won the All-America City Award five times.The oldest community recognition program in the country, the All-America City Award is doled out each year by the National Civic League to the ten cities across the US that have tackled community challenges and achieved exceptional results in doing so. This year, Tupelo took home its fifth All-America City Award! 10. Around 10,000 people attend the annual Tupelo Elvis Festival.Elvis had his roots in gospel, and the annual Elvis Festival honors that heritage with a moving Sunday Gospel Concert. Taking place every summer in Downtown Tupelo, the event is all about having fun — there’s a beauty pageant, 5k run, pet parade, tons of great local food vendors…and until you’ve seen a Brazilian attorney be crowned the winner of Tupelo’s Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Competition, you haven’t seen a thing. Guess you’ll have to go to find out who wins this year’s event. The party runs from June 2-5. 10 Fun Facts You Didn't Know About Halloween........................No tricks here!
Halloween is a celebration of all things spooky, and in the United States it's surrounded by a few odd traditions like trick-or-treating and pumpkin carving. Here are a few interesting facts about how some of today's practices got started as well as other fun tidbits about the unique holiday. 1. “Jack o'lantern” comes from the Irish legend of Stingy Jack Legend has it that Stingy Jack invited the devil to have a drink with him, but Jack didn't want to pay for the drink so he convinced the devil to turn himself into a coin. Instead of buying the drink, he pocked the coin and kept it close to a silver cross in his house, so the devil couldn't take shape again. He promised to let the devil go as long as he would leave him alone for a year – and if Jack died that the devil wouldn't claim his soul. After a year, Jack tricked the devil again to leave him alone and not claim his soul. Basically, the devil is really gullible in this story. When Jack died, God didn't want such a conniving person in heaven, and the devil true to his word (what a good guy) would not allow him into hell. Jack was sent off into the night with only a burning coal to light his path. He placed the coal inside a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the earth ever since. People in Ireland and Scotland began creating their own creations of Jack's lanterns out of turnips, beets and potatoes. The tradition came to the United States along with the immigrants and people began to use pumpkins, native to North America, for the lanterns instead. 2. Candy corn was originally called Chicken FeedThough many would argue that candy corn tastes like chicken feed, that's not how it got its original name. Created in 1880 by George Renninger, it was sold to the masses by Goelitz Confectionery Company (now Jelly Belly Co.) at the turn of the century. Because corn is what was used to feed chickens, the creation was called Chicken Feed and the box was marked with a colorful rooster. 3. Trick-or-treating comes from“souling”Having children dress up in costume and go door-to-door like little beggars demanding treats is kind of weird. Like several other Halloween activities, the tradition can be traced back to the Middle Ages and the rituals of Samhain. It was believed that ghosts and spirits walked the Earth on the night of Samhain, so people would dress up as spirits themselves in an effort to fool the real deal into thinking they were one and the same. This act was called "guising." As the Catholic Church started supplanting pagan festivals with their own holidays (like All Saints' Day), the act of guising became popular and poor children and adults would go door to door dressed as angels or spirits on Hallowmas begging for food or money in exchange for songs and prayers. This was called "souling." The earliest known reference to the phrase "trick-or-treat" in North America is from 1927 in Alberta, Canada. 4. The most lit jack o'lanterns on display is 30,581According to Guinness World Records, the highest number of lit jack o'lanterns on display is 30,581 by the City of Keene, N.H. in 2013. The City of Keenne, represented by Let it Shine, has broken the record 8 times over since the original attempt. That's a whole lot of pumpkins! 5. Halloween folklore is full of fortune-telling and magicOld English folklore about Halloween is full of superstition and fortune-telling that still lingers today, like bobbing for apples or avoiding black cats. One piece of folklore says that if a young unmarried person walks down the stairs backwards at midnight while holding a mirror, the face that appears in the mirror will be their next lover. Those people are all dead now. 6. Day of the Dead should really be called Days of the DeadThe Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, takes place on November 1 and November 2 in Mexico and a few other Hispanic countries. The first day, Dia de los Inocentes honors children that died and family members decorate graves with baby's breath and white orchids. On November 2, Dia de los Muertos, families honor adults who have died and place orange marigolds on grave sites. The original Aztec celebration actually lasted a month long, but when Spanish conquistadors came over to Mexico in the 16th century, they merged the festival with the Catholic All Saints' Day. Today's celebration is a mix of both Aztec rituals of skulls, altars to the dead and food with Catholic masses and prayers. 7. Michael Myers' mask is actually a William Shatner maskThe 1978 horror classic Halloween can be easily recognized in just one image: the psychotic Michael Myers in his iconic pale-faced mask. Without a doubt, it's one chilling look that has struck terror in the hearts of pot-smoking, partying teens in slasher flicks. The film was actually on such a tight budget that the crew used the cheapest mask they could find: a $2 Star Trek William Shatner mask. They did spray-paint it white and reshape the eye holes, making Captain James Kirk look incredibly creepy. Gives a whole new meaning to the word "warp." 8. Halloween originated from an ancient Celtic festivalAccording to History.com, the Halloween we know today can trace its roots back to the ancient Celtic end-of-harvest festival of Samhain. During Samhain, people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off evil spirits. In the eighth century, in an effort to spread Christianity, Pope Gregory III decreed November 1 as All Saints' Day and incorporated some of the rituals of Samhain. All Saints' Day was also called All Hallows and the night before, when the traditional Samhain festival used to take place in Celtic regions, was called All Hallows' Eve. 9. Des Moines has a hilarious tradition called Beggars' NightThe night before Halloween, young children in Des Moines hit the streets for Beggars' Night. According to an article in the Des Moines Register, the event began around 1938 as a way to prevent vandalism and give younger children a safer way to enjoy Halloween. Beggars' Night is very similar to regular trick-or-treating, except kids are required to tell a joke, poem, or perform a "trick" for a treat. The best part? The jokes are notoriously groan-worthy like, "If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?" "Pilgrims." Get your best dad jokes ready! 10. The White House is hauntedThe United States' most famous address has had several reports of ghostly appearances and eerie sounds – and that's not even including election years! The most common ghost sighting is of Abraham Lincoln who has been spotted by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and Sir Winston Churchill. Other paranormal guests include Andrew Jackson, David Burns and Abigail Adams. Can't get enough of Halloween? Check out The Most Haunted Spots in the USA Warriors4Trump Comment Policy
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