Yellow and red text around an illustration of a purple chest with yellow coins and a blue castle on a silver background

The Saint Paul Winter Carnival in Minnesota has been a family tradition since 1886 is the oldest winter festival in the United States. The carnival started when newspaper articles circulated stating that Minnesota was akin to Siberia in the winter. The people of the area retaliated by creating a winter festival that would highlight the beauty of Minnesota winters. Oftentimes, there will be a central theme for the year, and in 1993, the theme was "Treasure the Tradition," encouraging everyone to not only treasure the tradition of the carnival, but also the traditions they have with their friends and family.

Blue and red text on a pink birthday cake with red, yellow and blue candles on a light blue background with an outer blue edge with white text

Celebrating a birthday with cake and lit candles is a practice that has evolved over hundreds of years drawing from many cultures. In Ancient Greece, there was a tradition of making moon-shaped cakes to bring to the temple of Artemis, goddess of the moon. The cakes had lit candles decorating them, meant to make them shine like the moon. In Roman times, cakes were made to celebrate some citizens’ 50th birthdays, although this was reserved for men of high social status. By the 18th century, Germans had a tradition of celebrating birthdays for children called “Kinderfeste,” in which a cake would be topped with candles in the morning and kept lit all day until the cake was eaten after dinner. It was not until the industrial revolution, however, that birthday cakes became a trend in the United States when ingredients, baking tools, and even pre-made cakes cost less and were more accessible to the population.

Illustration of a map around and including the state of Michigan, with lakes in white and a fish and snow mobile on a blue background with a pink stripe with black text

Tip Up Town USA is an annual winter ice fishing festival held in Houghton Lake, Michigan that takes place during the last two weekends of January. The festival includes a number of activities in addition to ice fishing. There are snowmobile races, ice sculpture contents, as well as a number of family-oriented activities, including a carnival and pony rides.

The festival gets its name from a device used in ice fishing call a “tip up.” The device is attached to a fishing pole, and when a fish is attached, the flag attached to the device “tips up” to let the person fishing know that there is something on their line.

Red text around an illustration of someone having fallen off a log into water on a white background

The Albany Timber Carnival was held almost every July in Albany, Oregon to celebrate Independence Day and to commemorate the region’s timber industry. The carnival began in 1941 and was comprised of four main activities: logging sports competition, royal court, parade, and fireworks display. The carnival lasted until 2000, when Albany’s changing economy no longer depended on timber as much.

Black text on a yellow background

In 1886, three years before Washington became a state, the small town of Amboy received their very own Post Office. In 1960, to celebrate the Post Office's 75th anniversay, the Post Master organized a celebration. That event was such a hit that the community decided to make it an annual event. More than 50 years later from that first event, the annual celebration continues to take place and is known as the Amboy Territoiral Days as it takes place at Amboy Territorial Park. This button was to commemorate the 1979 Territorial Days celebration.

Red text on an outer yellow edge with a blue ring with white text on it and an illustration of a ship in the center

On July 17, 1938, a celebration was held in Minneapolis to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the first Swedish settlement in the United States, or “New Sweden,” located in Delaware. On June 27th of 1938, Prince Bertel of Sweden and his parents, Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf and Crown Princess Louise arrived in what is now Wilmington, Delaware. From there, they made their way to Chicago, then Minneapolis to participate in the celebration.

Black text on a white background around the outer edge of an illustration of a person in red and blue with an ax and a gree and a black animal on green grass

The Board of State Charities and Correction served as an umbrella agency overseeing the many State Institutions and facilities in Indiana from 1888-1935. These institutions included: prisons and correctional facilities, state hospitals, eugenics exhibit, orphans and foster children, school for the blind, school for the deaf, county poor asylums and orphanages.

Illustration of a brown boat with gold sails shaped like numbers on a white background with an outer blue with white text

In 1997, the Newfoundland Historical Society hosted a six month long celebration of the 500th anniversary of the arrival of John Cabot, who sailed from Bristol, England and landed in the region now known as Bonavista in Newfoundland in 1497.

The city of St. John’s hosted the Summit of the Sea, in which policy makers from around the world met to discuss environmental issues, as well as an international choral festival. Other events included a Northern Lights Festival,the Labrador 400 dog sled race, and the Labrador Winter Games.

Illustration of a horse and a cow on a yellow background above a ribbon with black text on it over illustrations of a pig, a sheep, more horses, a watermelon and other produce with a white outer edge with black text. It also has a red and a white ribbon attached at the bottom and a chain attaching a small brown pipe to the button

This pastoral design was repeated in souvenirs at various other events. Check out some other examples in our collection: State Fair of Texas, Souvenir of Fair Birmingham, Alabama, and Iowa State Fair.

Black text over an illustration of the United States with red and white stripes and Mount Rushmore on a white background

The founding of the United States as a nation is attributed to the year 1776. In 1976, the country celebrated its bicentennial, or 200th anniversary. To help celebrate this occasion, Mount Rushmore in South Dakota hosted a bicentennial event that lasted 111 days. It celebrated events local to the South Dakota area and nationally to the United States. Exhibits featuring wagon trains and the Freedom Trail were displayed to visitors. In addition, each state and territory in the country were celebrated in their own unique way, with each state getting two days to be featured.