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22 unusual facts about Memorial Day


2013 Coca-Cola 600

As it was Memorial Day weekend, NASCAR's pre-race would pay tribute to American war veterans.

Allen James Lynch

He has volunteered for the Vietnam Veterans of America organization, is the liaison for the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, and frequently gives speeches at military-related events, such as Memorial Day ceremonies.

Arlene Wohlgemuth

She gained some attention in state politics in 1997 for what became known as the "Memorial Day Massacre." She raised a point of order that killed 52 proposed bills by preventing them from even coming up for a vote before the end of the legislative session.

Balticon

Before 2001, Balticon was held on Easter weekend to take advantage of lower hotel costs and was three days long; however, in 2001 Balticon moved to Memorial Day Weekend and expanded to four days.

Bill Speidel

Since Memorial Day weekend 1965, the Underground Tour has given several tours a day every day except holidays and is one of the city's best known tourist attractions.

Brown Rebel

Over Memorial Day weekend in 1960, Brown took first place in a contest at Fort Rucker, AL.

At a contest in Tulsa, OK over Memorial Day weekend in 1959, Brown placed 3rd flying the Rebel.

Cornish Flat, New Hampshire

A Memorial Day eulogy and parade begin here, led by the local Boy Scout troop.

Gray, Maine

Every year on Memorial Day, the Unknown Soldier is respected with a Confederate flag marking the grave.

Iva Toguri D'Aquino

On January 15, 2006, the World War II Veterans Committee (sponsors of the Memorial Day Parade in Washington D.C. and the National World War II Memorial, the newest monument on the National Mall), citing "her indomitable spirit, love of country, and the example of courage she has given her fellow Americans", awarded Toguri its annual Edward J. Herlihy Citizenship Award.

JJ McKay

McKay was on the organizing committee for the original traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall and chaired the Pensacola/Escambia Memorial Day committee, a major event in Pensacola, the home of Naval Aviation.

Lambda Phi Epsilon

Lambda Phi Epsilon holds an annual convention during Memorial Day weekend at various locations across North America, co-hosted with the sisters of alpha Kappa Delta Phi.

Mark Watring

On May 27, 2002 Watring won the $35,000 Lexus of Glendale Memorial Grand Prix prize money, at the Memorial Day Classic Horse Show aboard his horse "Sapphire".

Memorial Day

It is frequently played with three other Ives works based on holidays as the second movement of A New England Holidays Symphony.

The most important was the United Daughters of the Confederacy, which grew from 17,000 members in 1900 to nearly 100,000 women by World War I.

Charles Ives's symphonic poem Decoration Day depicted the holiday as he experienced it in his childhood, with his father's band leading the way to the town cemetery, the playing of "Taps" on a trumpet, and a livelier march tune on the way back to the town.

Memorial Day Miracle

The Memorial Day Miracle is a game-winning three-point field goal by Sean Elliott in Game 2 of the 1999 Western Conference Finals between the Spurs and Blazers at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas on May 31, 1999, Memorial Day.

Nora Fontaine Davidson

She is credited for holding the first Memorial Day ceremony in Petersburg, and as the inspiration for the United States' Memorial Day.

Payton Jordan

After being renamed in Jordan's honor, the event was first held under the new title on Memorial Day, May 31, 2004.

Republic Steel

On Memorial Day, May 26, 1937, a strike escalated into the Memorial Day massacre of 1937, in which Chicago police fired into an unarmed group of protesters, and killed ten, outright.

Snowbird, Utah

Snowbird usually closes on Memorial Day in late May while the occasional ski year can last as long as the Fourth of July.

White Sulphur Springs National Fish Hatchery

The White Sulphur Springs Annual Fishing Derby falls on every Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend.


2010 Calder Cup playoffs

The series began eight days after the conclusion of the Conference Finals, as the Giant Center hosted the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus over the Memorial Day weekend.

City View Cemetery

Special areas recognize veterans of wars fought by Americans since the American Civil War and on Memorial Day, the Oregon Air National Guard conducts a flyover of the cemetery to honor those interred at City View.

Cleveland Park

With the construction of a swimming pool, the Club became more centered on recreational swimming, although other activities, including annual potluck suppers on Memorial Day and Labor Day, a day camp, and other occasional social and educational events continue.

Colorado State Highway 5

Because of its mountainous route, State Highway 5 is closed seasonally when snow clearance becomes excessively difficult, usually from Labor Day to Memorial Day.

Copper Culture State Park

The Charles Werrebroeck Museum, with the Oconto Archaic Copper Museum, is open in the summer from Memorial Day to Labor Day, on Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 3pm, or by appointment.

Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial

On Memorial Day, 1958, the remains were buried alongside the Unknown from World War I at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

I-40 bridge disaster

On Memorial Day 2003, that year on May 26, a memorial statue was dedicated by Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry in Webbers Falls, Oklahoma.

Johnny Donovan

With the assistance of Peter Kanze, Rob Frankel and Allan Sniffen, he produced the annual, now defunct, WABC Rewound program each Memorial Day.

Lisbon, Ohio

The Dulci-More Festival, a music festival dedicated to the Appalachian dulcimer and other traditional musical instruments, was inaugurated in 1995 and takes place each Memorial Day weekend at Camp McKinley, a Boy Scout camp near Lisbon.

Meyerland, Houston

On Memorial Day, May 30, 1961, the "Hero Tree" was dedicated as a living memorial to Capt. Gary L. Herod for his heroism.

Mount Holyoke

The Summit House is open weekends and holidays from Memorial Day through Columbus Day.

National Memorial Day Concert

The National Memorial Day Concert is a free annual concert performed on the west lawn of the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., in celebration of Memorial Day since 1989.

Pioneer City

The park was opened on Memorial Day weekend 1966 by photography studio magnate Myron M. "Mike" Weiss, Sr. as a built-to-scale Dodge City, Kansas, complete with a saloon, general store, Pony Express office, opera house and casino, undertaker, and barber shop, highlighted by cowboy actors who staged gunfights at high noon.

Raritan Bayshore

From Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, service is also provided to the public beaches in Sandy Hook a few times each day by SeaStreak.

Trumbull, Nebraska

The Warren Peony Gardens, located south of Trumbull, attracted many visitors around Memorial Day.

Unfinished Symphony: Democracy and Dissent

Set primarily in Lexington, Massachusetts over Memorial Day weekend in 1971, the film focuses on the three-day protest in the form of a march, staged by newly returned war veterans.

WFNX

To promote its signal upgrade in downtown Boston, WFNX sold all of its commercial ad time to beverage maker Snapple from Memorial Day, May 29 through Independence Day, July 4, 2006, (both are national holidays in the United States).