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Alpenfest is an annual festival held in Gaylord, Michigan every July. Originally called The Alpine Festival, it was created as a way to commemorate a new particle plant that was scheduled to open in the town in 1965. Since the particle manufacturing was developed by a businessman in Switzerland, the town of Gaylord wanted to change the town’s image to more of an Alpine look, hence the name of the festival. Over 50 years later, the Alpenfest is still held every third week in July. This button was to commemorate the 25th year of the festival, and to this day, they still handout a different button every year.

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Approximately 47 miles outside of Woodstock, Illinois. Every year in late January or early February, the town hosts a Groundhog Day festival to commemorate not only the holiday but also the film of the same title starring Bill Murray that was filmed there. The annual event includes pub crawls, bingo, film trivia, a chili cookoff, storytime, film site tours, and movie screenings. Woodstock even has their own groundhog named Woodstock Willie who makes appearances during the festival. 

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In 1979, a concern was raised that due to the growing accessibility of CDs, cassettes, and cable TV, public access radio would fall out of favor. The Radio Advertising Bureau created the successful "Red Hot" campaign in response, in which radio was advertised as an accessible and local source of news and music. Local stations created their own merchandise to encourage a younger audience, including WBNO in Bryan, Ohio, which in the same year became the industry's first solar powered broadcast station.

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Learning to read is an impressive accomplishment! Literacy skills development, or the process of learning to read, happens over the course of several years and consists of multiple stages.

In the emergent literacy phase, young children learn what books are and learn that written words are connected with language. This typically happens in the pre-school years. In the early elementary grades, beginning readers learn to recognize words, decipher spelling, and comprehend what they are reading. By late elementary school, as readers become more fluent, reading becomes accurate and quick, and readers learn more vocabulary and concepts through their reading. By middle school, readers analyze style, appreciate multiple viewpoints, and critically analyze texts as they read.

Doctor Who is a science fiction television show that premiered on the BBC in 1963. The show aired until 1989, and was then relaunched in 2005. The show centers on the Doctor, an alien Time Lord who travels through time and space with friends in his time-traveling ship the TARDIS. The Doctor does not die: instead, they are able to regenerate, taking on a new form and personality with each regeneration. Doctor Who is a major part of popular culture with a large cult following; members of the fandom are commonly referred to as “Whovians.”

The Doctor Who logo has gone through many iterations. In December of 1973, Bernard Lodge designed a new title sequence that features a specific logo in the shape of a diamond, informally referred to as the “Diamond Logo”. This logo ran from 1973-1980, and is commonly attributed to the Fourth Doctor played by Tom Baker. The “Diamond Logo” was revived in the 1980s and 1990s for video releases, the Virgin Missing Adventures books, and most tie-in publications and merchandising.

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Cookie Monster is one of the iconic Sesame Street characters. He is best known for his intense appetite. While he will eat almost anything, his favorite food is chocolate chip cookies. The Cookie Monster debuted on Sesame Street in 1969 and earned his name during a quiz show skit where he won and was given the choice of cash, a new car, a trip to Hawaii, or a cookie as a prize. Naturally, he took the cookie and was forever known as the Cookie Monster.

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Betty Boop for President was a short film created in 1932 starring Betty Boop. In the seven minute film, Betty Boop runs for President against Mr. Nobody. As they debate their vision for the future through song and dance, Mr. Nobody exclaims that nobody will solve the problem. Whereas Betty Boop highlights everything she will do to improve conditions for people. Betty Boop wins by a landslide and becomes President.

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In 2001, Tom’s of Maine started a River Awareness Program to raise awareness and increase involvement in freshwater conservation around the US. Their National Partners included The Nature Conservancy and River Network, but as the program progressed, Tom’s of Maine worked with many local organizations, including the Friends of the Chicago River. During local events, they would provide attendees with information on ways they could get involved in their communities. Any people who signed up to try and do their part would be given these buttons.

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Sunsoft is the Japanese video game developer and publisher branch of Sun Corporation. Between 1987 and 1989, they distributed seven games in the United States for the Nintendo Entertainment System: Batman, Blaster Master, Festers Quest, Freedom Force, Platoon, Spy Hunter, and Xenophobe. Sunsoft started in video games in 1978 with Block Challenger and Block Perfect. By the 1980s, they had grown large enough to be able to purchase licenses for Batman and The Addams Family. Sun Corporations has also manufactured electronic equipment, electronic gambling machines, personal computers, software, digital recorders, mobile phone applications, and routers and telecommunications equipment.