McCaleb: Almost vital facts for the Fourth

Rain or shine, I plan to join the millions of other Americans who will fire up the grill today in honor of our nation’s 233rd birthday.

And thanks to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Facts for Features series, I’ll have some interesting trivia to toss around as I’m standing over the pit with a beverage in one hand and tongs in the other.

Will hot dogs be on the menu in your backyard?

If so, there’s a good chance the meat comes from either Iowa or Texas, depending on your preference for pork or beef franks. According to the Census Bureau, the Hawkeye State was home to 19.3 million hogs and pigs as of March 1, about a quarter of the nation’s total. North Carolina and Minnesota were a distant second and third, with 9.4 million and 7.3 million swine, respectively.

The Lone Star State is home to the most beef production, 6.8 billion pounds of it in 2007, or one-sixth of the nation’s total. If your beef dogs, burgers or steak didn’t come from Texas, then Nebraska (4.7 billion pounds) or Kansas (4.1 billion pounds) are your next best bets.

Do you like baked beans with your grilled meat? There’s nearly a 40 percent chance the beans were grown in North Dakota, according to the Census Bureau. But if corn on the cob is your side vegetable of choice, then it likely came from Florida, California, Georgia or New York, which combined accounted for 61 percent of the nation’s sweet corn in 2008.

As for the potatoes in mom’s potato salad, half of the nation’s crop was produced in Idaho and Washington last year.

But that’s enough about food. How about some other Independence Day-related trivia, also thanks to the Census Bureau?

If you plan to attend a fireworks display tonight, you likely won’t be watching the American-made variety. It’s more likely they came from China, which sent $193 million worth of pyrotechnics into the U.S. last year.

As for patriotic-sounding names, there are 31 towns in the United States with “liberty” in their name. Iowa has four of them, Libertyville, New Liberty, North Liberty and West Liberty. Illinois has its own, as well. Liberty, Ill., is a small village in Adams County in the western part of the state.

And there are 11 towns with “independence” in their name. That total does not include Independence, Ill., an unincorporated community in Pike County.

OK, so this is all mostly useless trivia and will be forgotten by the time you’re on your second bite of dessert. (If it’s watermelon, by the way, chances are it ... Oh, never mind.)

Have a fun, safe and tasty holiday.

• Dan McCaleb is editor of Northwest Herald. He can be reached at 815-459-4122, or via e-mail at dmccaleb@nwherald.com.