Fun Facts: Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July! 

The lemonade is chilling, the dessert is made and the grill is warming up for the afternoon cookout to be followed by fireworks that will light up the sky after dark.

Independence Day is certainly a social holiday but how many facts do you really  know about this monumental day for the U.S.?

The U.S. Census Bureau offers a variety of fun facts about the holiday including:

Population of the country

• in 1776 was 2.5 million
• in 2012 it's 313.9 million

Fireworks

• in 2011, $223.6 million worth of fireworks were important from China
• meanwhile, the U.S. exported $15.8 million worth of fireworks in 2011

Patriotic-Sounding Places

• 31 places have the word 'liberty' in their name, four of which are in Iowa
• 35 places have the word 'eagle' in their name
• 11 places have the word 'independence' in their name
• 9 places have the word 'freedom' in their name
• 1 place has 'patriot' in its name (Patriot, IN with population of 209)
• 5 places have the word 'America' in their names

Cookouts

• Chances are 1 in 3 that a hotdog or pork sausage came from Iowa
• Texas produced 7.2 million pounds of beef hot dogs, steaks and burgers
• Chances are potato chiprs or potato salad orginates from Idaho or Washington--the two states responsible for about half o the potato production in the country for 2011