Image of fireman in red, gold, and peach with black text on white background.

Rainbow Fire Company is the oldest fire company in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Rainbow Fire Company was founded on March 17,1773 as a volunteer fire department, later organized in 1793. They moved to the present location at Eighth and Court streets in 1840 to serve the uptown area and this is now known as the Rainbow Historic District. Although the building has undergone several renovations over the years, the fire department remains in the same brick structure.

Black text on white background

The Stampede at Sheepshead Bay Speedway ran from August 5th-12th in 1916 near Coney Island in New York and was the first and largest rodeo event east of the Mississippi at the time. Cowboys, cowgirls, Native Americans, and livestock such as cattle, horses, and bulls traveled from out west to New York City to compete in this event which was referred to as “the world series of cowboy events.” Men and women participated in events such as riding saddle and barebacking broncos, cowboy tricks and fancy roping, relay races, steer roping, trick riding, and wild horse races, to name some of the events. Teddy Roosevelt also attended the event and helped broker peace from two feuding cowboys from an event the day before.

Illustration of crossed American and Irish flags with shamrock above them and yellow ribbons hanging below.

“Erin Go Bragh” is an anglicisation of an Irish language phrase, “Éirinn go Brách” meaning “Ireland Forever.” The phrase was long said in Ireland but came to prominent use in the United States when Irish volunteers joined the Mexicans in the Mexican-American war. The phrase was later picked up by the Irish Unionist Party in the late 1800s.

White text on blue background.

National Doctor’s Day is a holiday celebrated on March 30th in the United States to honor past and present physicians and others in the healthcare industry. The first Doctors’ Day observance was March 30, 1933, in Winder, Georgia. The U.S. House of Representatives adopted a resolution commemorating Doctors’ Day on March 30, 1958.

The date may vary from nation to nation depending on the event of commemoration used to mark the day. In the United States, Eudora Brown Almond chose the date based on the first use of general anesthesia in surgery. Historically, a card or red carnation may be sent to physicians and their spouses, along with a flower being placed on the graves of deceased physicians.The United States Senate and House of Representatives passed S.J. RES. #366 during the 101st United States Congress, which President Bush signed on October 30, 1991 (creating Public Law 101-473), designating Doctors' Day as a national holiday to be celebrated on March 30. Dr. Marion Mass along with Dr. Kimberly Jackson and Dr. Christina Lang applied to officially have physician’s day changed to physician’s week. This was accepted in March 2017.

image of a bat with black wings dressed in clothes with white and red text on white background.

Carlsbad Caverns is a National Park located in the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico known for its limestone caves and bat populations. The main attraction of the park is Carlsbad Cavern, a show cave with a natural entrance that visitors can hike.

The part of New Mexico where the Caverns are located has a long history. Carlsbad Cavern is just one of the over 300 limestones caves created 250 to 280 million years ago. Twelve to fourteen thousand years ago, American Indians were living in the Guadalupe Mountains. From the 1500s to the 1800s, the land went from Spanish to Mexican rule. In the 1840’s the land was lost to the United States, and became the state of New Mexico in 1912. While the first known entrance of the cave is disputed, 16 year old Jim White probably entered the cave for the first time in 1896. White would go on to be as well known cave explorer and promoter for the caverns. In 1923, the Carlsbad Cave was established as a National Monument.

Carlsbat was a mascot for the Carlsbad Caverns, commonly found alongside the slogan, “Bats Need Friends Too.” Carlsbat was featured on advertising merchandise such as pinback buttons, coffee mugs, tshirts, and pendants.

Clown with shoes facing forward in green, yellow, and red with black text and white background.

Circus City Festival Inc. started in 1959 in the outskirts of Peru, Indiana. C.C.F.I. is a circus performance group that puts on shows in their Peru location. Peru has a long history with the circus as many travelling performers would spend their winters in the area going back as far as 1860. In 1984, C.C.F.I celebrated its 25th anniversary with 12 shows throughout July. Activities included a parade, game booths, and three museums. The event has continued to the present, though the 2020 festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Image of Lurch Addams with spiderweb and black text on orange background.

Lurch is a fictional character from The Addams Family, a cartoon that was originated by creator Charles Addams for The New Yorker in 1938. The cartoon was later turned into a television show and film series and has gone on to become a pop culture icon. The series follows the Addams, a close knit family with macabre and dark interests. Lurch is the family’s butler, known for his large, looming stature and his use of moans and grunts to communicate.

The most popularly known iteration of The Addams Family was the TV show that ran from 1964-1966. The theme song for the television show, written and produced by Vic Mizzy, is now a classic song that would go on to appear in later Addams Family productions. On the show, Lurch is played by American voice artist and actor Ted Cassidy. The family would summon Lurch with a hangman's bell pull, to which Lurch would always respond with his catchphrase “You rang?” a sound bite made famous by Cassidy in this role.

In 1965, “The Lurch” was a dance craze made popular by Cassidy’s portrayal of Lurch. In the episode “Lurch, the Teenage Idol,” Lurch becomes a pop sensation, which inspired Gary Paxton of Capitol Records to create “The Lurch.” Staring Cassidy as the lead singer, it premiered on the TV show “Shivaree!” on September 11, 1965. Cassidy performed the song two more times, once on “Shindig!” and again on an ABC Halloween Special.

Image of Mickey Mouse with red and black text on white background.

Created as part of a series of advertisements that licensed the Mickey Mouse character to encourage the sale of bread and other consumer goods, products featuring Mickey Mouse became common place in America during the mid to late 1930's. The manufacturer, and the man responsible for this artifact’s creation, was Herman ‘Kay” Kamen. Starting in July 1932, Kamen became a licensing agent of the Walt Disney Company. Under Kamen, the company began to license its characters to thousands of consumer products. Toys, napkins, wallpaper, comics, and hairbrushes were a variety of products that would be created with Mickey’s likeness. In 1934, General Foods would pay one million dollars to have Mickey Mouse cut-outs on their cereal boxes. By 1935, the number of Disney licensed products sold amounted to over $35,000,000 in sales, quickly outpacing the revenue from films. Kamen’s and Disney’s mass licensing of characters for consumer goods would be so successful that it would begin a marketing trend, as other advertisers followed suit.

Black illustration of Flash Gordon and friend riding creatures with block letters on white background.

Flash Gordon is the hero of the science-fiction comic strip titled Flash Gordon. It was created in 1934 by illustrator Alex Raymond and writer Don Moore as a Sunday feature for King Features Syndicate. Intended to compete with the popular comic strip Buck Rogers (which it soon surpassed in popularity), the series concerned the intergalactic adventures of Flash Gordon, his girlfriend Dale Arden, and the scientist Dr. Hans Zarkov on the alien planet Mongo. The character appeared on television in both live-action (1954–55; 2007–08) and animated (1979–80; 1996) series. The feature-length film Flash Gordon (1980) was equal parts science fiction and high camp, and, although a failure at the box office, it was perhaps best remembered for its synthesizer-fueled soundtrack, provided by the rock group Queen.

Black illustration of duck with black text on green background.

The Borough of Waltham Forest is in northeast London, England. The borough was formed in 1965 from the merger of the municipal boroughs of Leyton, Walthamstow and Chingford; it took its name from Waltham Forest – an institution which managed deer in south-west Essex.

Walthamstow was severely damaged by bombing in the Second World War, and after the war its appearance was much altered by the scale and variety of municipal housing schemes. Although Walthamstow in 1971 was densely built up, the disposition of the reservoirs on the west and the surviving forest on the east still distinguished it from similar urbanized areas.

The ducklings club most likely refers to a youth swimming lessons group in the UK.