The theme of the day does seem to be Americana, at least, and I know, I know some find National Hillbilly Day offensive, even though it was intended to be a fun family day that centered on the stereotype of the Hillbilly in a comic stri and as fun raiser for the Shriners Hospitals.
Sidewalk egg frying, at your own Hillbilly picnic, as you barbeque spareribs and/or paint the fence while listening to country music. That sounds like a pretty American way to Celebrate Independence.
July 4: National Hillbilly Day, Sidewalk Egg Frying Day, National Country Music Day, National Fence Painting Day, National Barbequed Spareribs Day
National Hillbilly Day
Why not get your Jethro on and join the celebration of those wonderful and wacky stereotypical hillbillies? You don't need to worry about political correctness this time, as it's all in good-humored fun. National Hillbilly Day is often celebrated with a festival or parade and many times includes various fundraisers for charitable causes. If there are no hillbilly festivities near you, you can celebrate by cooking up some down-home mountain vittles like 'mater casserole or fried pickles.
Sidewalk Egg Frying Day
The origins for this special day can be attributed to the old saying, "It's so hot you could fry an egg on the sidewalk," which dates to at least 1899. Sidewalk Egg Frying Day is great fun for the kids and presents an excellent opportunity to teach them about the benefits and usefulness of solar energy. The city of Oatman, Ariz., hosts a solar egg frying contest each year on July 4 that allows essential kitchen aids like reflectors, magnifying glasses and mirrors to maximize the heat.
National Country Music Day
Regardless of how you feel about country music, you must admit it has had a tremendous influence on American culture. From Hank Williams to Tim McGraw, the genre never loses steam as generations come and go. Celebrate National Country Music Day by listening to your favorite country hits, or even to covers of other popular contemporary music performed by country artists.
National Fence Painting Day
Celebrated most widely in Hannibal, Mo., the home town of Mark Twain, National Fence Painting Day pays homage to the ingenuity and enterprise of Twain's popular young character, Tom Sawyer. The festivities are highlighted by a fence-painting contest that has been held annually since 1956. Now sanctioned by Congress, the event is referred to as the "World Series of Whitewashing." Celebrate at home by handing your kids a paint brush and challenging them to get creative.
Celebrated for many years, it's probably no coincidence that National Barbequed Spareribs Day takes place on the Fourth of July. The sparerib is a relatively inexpensive cut of pork that is common in many cultures throughout the world and may be best known in American for its adaptability to the grill. You can celebrate this delicious holiday by smoking, grilling or barbequing a batch of spareribs to showcase your July 4 table.
One of my favorite traditions , since I no longer have any cap guns to liven up things with, has been to each year watch the meteorologists of Penn State try to fry and egg on the fresh pavement in the parking lot, it's on tape, so since it didn't work the first time, it won't work this year either. I couldn't find a copy of that, but I did find this.
Please stop frying eggs on road, Death Valley park asks
![Stop frying eggs in Death Valley: Tourists try frying egg on rock in Death Valley: As temperatures reach record highs in Death Valley, park employees are asking visitors to stop frying eggs and leaving a mess behind them.]({"default":"http://newsbcpcol.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/15/ac658241d651b186bf577c8bca534/_h353_w628_m6_otrue_lfalse.jpg"})
Reuters: Steve Marcus
National Park has a message for tourists: Do as I say, not as I do.
The reminder comes after one employee at the scorching-hot California park unintentionally sparked a trend that's rankling her fellow staff members.
The employee posted a video on the park's official YouTube channel in late June demonstrating how to cook an egg on a skillet using only the sun for heat. Her experiment in nearly 133-degree temperatures (Death Valley temperatures have reached record highs this summer) worked, and the video picked up heat online, garnering more than 312,000 views as of Thursday morning.
Impressed by the experiment, hordes of visitors to Death Valley began attempting to cook eggs on the ground — sometimes with skillets, sometimes without — leaving behind a mess of eggshells. The newly inspired egg chefs aren't appreciated at the park, which, like many others, has a "leave no trace" policy.
Related: What Death Valley at 128 degrees feels like
On June 2, to combat the new egg scourge, administrators took to the national park's Facebook page to ask visitors to dispose of their waste if they're keen on frying eggs on park grounds.
"An employee's posting of frying an egg in a pan in Death Valley was intended to demonstrate how hot it can get here, with the recommendation that if you do this, use a pan or tin foil and properly dispose of the contents," an administrator wrote. "However, the Death Valley NP maintenance crew has been busy cleaning up eggs cracked directly on the sidewalk, including egg cartons and shells strewn across the parking lot.
"This is your national park. Please put trash in the garbage or recycle bins provided and don’t crack eggs on the sidewalks, or the Salt Playa at ," the administrator added.
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The reminder comes after one employee at the scorching-hot California park unintentionally sparked a trend that's rankling her fellow staff members.
The employee posted a video on the park's official YouTube channel in late June demonstrating how to cook an egg on a skillet using only the sun for heat. Her experiment in nearly 133-degree temperatures (Death Valley temperatures have reached record highs this summer) worked, and the video picked up heat online, garnering more than 312,000 views as of Thursday morning.
Impressed by the experiment, hordes of visitors to Death Valley began attempting to cook eggs on the ground — sometimes with skillets, sometimes without — leaving behind a mess of eggshells. The newly inspired egg chefs aren't appreciated at the park, which, like many others, has a "leave no trace" policy.
Related: What Death Valley at 128 degrees feels like
On June 2, to combat the new egg scourge, administrators took to the national park's Facebook page to ask visitors to dispose of their waste if they're keen on frying eggs on park grounds.
"An employee's posting of frying an egg in a pan in Death Valley was intended to demonstrate how hot it can get here, with the recommendation that if you do this, use a pan or tin foil and properly dispose of the contents," an administrator wrote. "However, the Death Valley NP maintenance crew has been busy cleaning up eggs cracked directly on the sidewalk, including egg cartons and shells strewn across the parking lot.
"This is your national park. Please put trash in the garbage or recycle bins provided and don’t crack eggs on the sidewalks, or the Salt Playa at ," the administrator added.
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