“Red or green?” may be New Mexico’s official state question, but the answer says little about how deep the state’s chile tradition goes. These are the things New Mexicans do during roasting season that out-of-staters rarely see. 1. Peeling Chile Around the Kitchen Table New Mexicans haul their roasted bags home still warm, and the…
Well-known Mississippi foods and drinks come with an origin story attached. But many of those stories turn out to be wrong. These are the Mississippi food and drink origin stories that aren’t what most people think. 1. Coca-Cola’s First Bottle Coca-Cola built its whole reputation on Atlanta, so many people assume the drink’s famous glass…
Wheat brought Montana farmers just over $1 billion in 2024, more money than any other crop grown in the state, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). That money doesn’t come in gradually. Nearly all of it lands in a few frantic weeks each August, when trucks line up at…
Rhode Island’s Department of Environmental Management confirmed it in writing on September 1: Every state beach lost its lifeguards and staff the day after Labor Day this year. The beach didn’t close, and tourists still show up, just in smaller numbers. These are the beach rules Rhode Island visitors break every fall. Note: This is…
Aledo’s Tim Buchanan Stadium seats about 9,155 fans, according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football. That’s nearly double the 4,858 residents that the U.S. Census Bureau counted there in 2020. Small Texas towns fill stadiums like that every week. These are the Friday night traditions that shut down small Texas towns. 1. Aledo’s Pre-Kickoff Street Closure…
Try explaining to someone from another state why Nebraska’s athletic department cleared Memorial Stadium, the Huskers’ home turf, for two high schools to settle a rivalry there. Nobody explains it well. These are the Nebraska town feuds that go back more than a century. 1. Scottsbluff and Gering Scottsbluff and Gering sit close enough along…
Louisiana’s tourism board keeps a running list of the fall festivals worth a special trip, and it names twenty-five of them. The state holds a great many more than twenty-five. These are the Louisiana festivals locals love that tourists never hear about. 1. Cut Off Youth Center Hurricane Festival The Cut Off Youth Center Hurricane…
A 19th-century pair of Levi’s pulled from a Nevada mine sold at auction for more than $87,000 in 2022. On jeans made before 1971, a capital E on the red tab is what separates a $10 pair from a five-figure one. These are the things from an Arizona grandparent’s house worth more than you’d guess….
A landlord near Kansas City raised the rent on a longtime drive-in movie theater 350% in 2024, according to Kansas City’s public radio station KCUR. The theater closed months later. These are the places Missourians used to gather that are gone for good. 1. Crestwood Court Crestwood Court once anchored shopping in the St. Louis…
California runs more restaurants than any other state, 88,649 of them by the National Restaurant Association’s count. Almost none of them go national. These are the restaurant chains Californians assume exist all over the country. 1. Original Tommy’s Original Tommy’s has fed Los Angeles since 1946, when Tom Koulax opened a walk-up stand at Beverly…
