We are just ONE YEAR way from the 250th birthday of the United States of America!

We are celebrating with the July First Friday tomorrow (on a Thursday) with Experience Mount Vernon, and then fireworks all around the county on Friday night, including Mount Vernon’s celebration at Ariel-Foundation Park!

We are going to be giving away a Grab a Sip, Take a Dip, Turn It Up prize basket, featuring a $15 Happy Bean gift card, a Family 4 Pack of One-Day Passes to the Hiawatha Water Park and Pool, a WNZR Bluetooth Speaker, and stuffed with many WNZR goodies as well! Find us at Big Blue next to the Dog Fountain at the Mount Vernon Public Square, and you can get registered to win!

Today is also Made in the USA Day!

Joel Joseph of the Made in the USA Foundation created Made In The USA Day in 1989. The biggest reason for founding this day was to signify American-made products and support the domestic manufacturing sector!

This establishment helped in more ways than just one. First, it would signify the importance of American manufacturing to the economy, and it would also encourage consumers to support American goods production. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also plays a key role in this observance. That’s because the agency regulates the labels and marks that signify the country of origin.

So what are some products you wouldn’t have expected to be American-made? Well for starters, the classic No. 2 pencil is still made in the USA, since the 20th century. The red SOLO cup is also made in the U.S., along with Charmin and Angel Soft toilet paper as well!

Today we played a game of Who Am I?. Here are the five biographical questions about our mystery, patriotic, famous person:

  1. I was born on July 2, 1908, in Baltimore, Maryland.
  2. After I was denied admission to the University of Maryland Law School due to segregation, I graduated first in my class from Howard University School of Law in 1933.
  3. I founded the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which became a powerful legal arm in the fight for civil rights.
  4. In Brown v. Board of Education, I served as lead attorney, and successfully argued this landmark Supreme Court case, which ruled racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.
  5. President Lyndon Johnson appointed me as the first African American Supreme Court Justice, where I served until 1991.

I am… Thurgood Marshall! Congratulations to Kathy from Mount Vernon for calling in and guessing me correctly, taking home that $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica! Tune into the Afternoon Drive tomorrow for Praise Thursday, where we take time to worship God and read some encouraging devotionals!

Thank you so much for listening!
– Joe and Ethan