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From August 30th through September 5th, 1908, Renovo, Pennsylvania held an Old Home Week festival. During this time, former residents who had moved away were encouraged to return “home” for the week to reunite with friends and family. Events in Renovo included a parade led by mounted police officers, fireworks, a “sham” battle, horse racing, and sparring exhibitions. Other events that might be included in Old Home Week were town dinners, local tours, and class and family reunions.

Old Home Week originated in New England in the late 19th century. It has since carried over to other parts of the country, although the focus of the festival has evolved over the years to celebrate local culture and history.

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"Old Home Week" is a week of celebration where the former residents of a house come and celebrate with the current residents. It started in 1902 by Phillip Edward Baer because he wanted an reunion-like event to enjoy with his friends and neighbors.

The festivities can include games, friendly competitions, prizes, parades, and decorations. It is an event for the whole community to come together and be joyful about their past, present, and future. It is not a celebration held every year, but in intervals of 3, 5 or 10.

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The Annual Oktoberfest in La Crosse, Wisconsin, marked its 30th year in 1990 and celebrated it’s 59th year in 2019 at the time of writing. The annual event includes epic parades, biergartens, food, and activities. Each year, the La Crosse Festivals, Inc. Board of Directors holds a contest for button designs to symbolize the festival for the coming year. For instance, the theme for 2019 was Fest with Das Beste, and the button represented that theme and Oktoberfest in general. Most of the festivities happen at the Northside Fairgrounds or the Southside Fairgrounds. More recent festivals are 4-day events.

The 1990 festival ushered in the fall with music, food, tradition, pageantry, and beer. It began Friday, September 28th at 11:30am with an opening day parade and continued over the next 7 days with over 70 events scheduled for the week. Saturday opened with a Maple Leaf parade at 11am which lasted 2-3 hours. On Sunday, the “Kids” Day Parade started at 3 and Kids Day activities lasted until 5:30 and included Magician Robert Ian. Robert Ian performed at the North and South Fairgrounds throughout the week as well. The culinary centerpiece was on Wednesday, October 3rd ,as Heritage Night at La Crosse Center, which included a variety of cultural foods from over 20 area groups and a full slate of musical performances. Notable musicians from Oktoberfest included members from Guess Who and Herman’s Hermits, though both were missing some members. Others included New Odyssey, polka songs from the Eldon Otto Orchestra and Ricky Yurko, as well as rock music from The Heat, Rockin’ Lilly, and Troubleshooter. The festivities ended on Thursday, the 4th, with a Torchlight Parade at 7pm.

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In June of 1939, Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois held the last annual North Shore Music Festival, an event that began in 1909. It was developed by Peter Christian, the director of musical studies at NWU as a way to “enrich and educate his students as well as the general public.” He also believed it would bring more recognition to the university and the town of Evanston.

The festival consisted of a variety of musical performances that were popular at the time, including symphonies, vocal soloists, oratorios, cantatas, and instrumentals. In addition, a children’s concert in which children could participate was held. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra was the main event for most years, with the exceptions of 1917-1919, when the Minneapolis Symphony took its place, then again in 1921 when the New York Philharmonic headlined.

In 1932, the University withdrew funding for the festival, citing the Great Depression as a cause. The festival was revived five years later, but failed to gain the same level of popularity. The final festival was held in 1939 in the university’s football stadium.

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The North Carolina Congress of Parents and Teachers, Inc. (NC PTA) is an association that encourages parental involvement in school health since 1919. The association works in Beaufort, Edgecombe, Halifax, Jackson, McDowell, Nash, and Rockingham counties in South Carolina advocating for children. In the 1930s, there were approximately 1,000 local units organized within four districts and the association began publishing its newsletter.

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Advocates marched on Washington D.C. on April 5, 1992 with one message – that a Pennsylvania state law being considered by the United States Supreme Court was unconstitutional, and that abortion rights were a core part of women’s health services. The march drew several hundred thousand people to the capital, one of the largest protest marches at the time, with the goal of raising awareness of the threats to the service and the importance of keeping abortions safe and legal. Although Roe v. Wade was passed into law in 1973, three Republican presidential terms had weakened the abortion rights established by the ruling, and the march came at as tensions around the pro-choice/pro-life debate came to a boiling point. Less than a year after the march, Bill Clinton was sworn into office and, although it wouldn't end the debate or the political action taken on either side, overturned several pieces of key anti-abortion executive legislation.

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Holly is a genus of around 600 species of shrubs and trees in the family Aquifoliaceae. A great number of these species are cultivated as ornamentals for their distinctive foliage and red or black fruits, which will endure well into the winter and are popular for holidays at that time of year. As a modern-day symbol, holly can represent happiness, peace, and optimism. In Christian tradition, holly represents protection and safety, as well as rebirth and renewal, as it is the last birth flower of the year and brings hope for the new year. The traditional use of holly as a holiday decoration can be traced as far back as to a pre-Christian era when Druids in England and northern Europe would use it as a symbol of fertility and new life. These Druids also believed that holly could protect people from harm, bring good luck to the home, and ensure a bountiful harvest.

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The first National Hospital Day was declared by U.S. president Warren G. Harding in 1921 as a way to rebuild the public's trust in city hospitals after the devastating 1918 Spanish flu pandemic claimed the lives of more than 675,000 Americans. National Hospital Day was designated as a day for hospitals to educate the public about medical care. It was originally celebrated on May 12, the birthday of famed nurse, Florence Nightingale, who had helped to establish hospital standards during the Crimean War of 1854. In 1953, National Hospital Day was expanded to National Hospital Week. 

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The National Export Exposition was held from September to November of 1899 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at a special campus erected in 1899 by chief engineer John Birkinbine. The exposition was held for the advancement of American manufactures and the extension of export trade. The Philadelphia Commercial Museum and the Franklin Institute sponsored this event conducted by the Philadelphia Exposition Association displaying American manufacturing products advertised for export.

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July 4th, 1976 marked the two-hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. On this occasion, the National Archives hosted President Gerald Ford on July 2 of that year, as the president had a busy schedule of events on July 4th and the days leading up to it. At the archives, President Ford spoke briefly and viewed the Declaration, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution. The three documents were on display for the public on that day and on July 4th.