Memorial Day: Quick Facts You Might Not Know

Beach, Barbecues & Bravery

Memorial Day is closely associated with barbecues, beaches, and a 3-day weekend. And yes, it’s a holiday to have a good time with friends and family. It’s also a favorite national holiday. And it has a rich history of courage and honor behind it.

Here are some quick facts about Memorial Day you might not know:

• Memorial Day started as a way to honor the casualties of the Civil War, in which an estimated 620,000 soldiers lost their lives.

• The holiday had a different name: Decoration Day, named for the practice of decorating soldiers’ graves with flowers and flags. Decoration Day was legally declared “Memorial Day” in 1967.

• While Decoration Day became known nationally as Memorial Day in 1967, New York was the first state to designate it as a legal holiday in 1873.

• Memorial Day is the second most popular day of the year for grilling, according to a recent Weber GrillWatch™ survey. And the most popular grilling holiday is, of course, the 4th of July, AKA Independence Day.

• Speaking of grilling, the hot dog industry celebrates big on Memorial Day! According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, Americans will consume 7 billion hot dogs or more than 800 hot dogs per second during the holiday! The bread and condiment industries will rejoice as well.

• Memorial Day was celebrated annually on May 30 until 1971: from then on, it shifted to being celebrated on the last Monday of May.

• One Memorial Day custom is to fly the United States flag at half-staff until noon and then raise it up to the top of the staff until sunset.

• Surprisingly, neither a beach city nor the nation’s capital of Washington DC is the most popular Memorial Day tourist destination. Not surprisingly, Las Vegas ranks highest as the most popular destination, followed by Orlando, San Diego, and New York City, according to Priceline.com.

• Memorial Day is very much a drinking holiday. And that makes it a dangerous holiday, as law enforcement will be very busy all weekend. According to AAA, approximately 37.2 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home to spend the holiday weekend.

As mentioned, the roads will be busy and dangerous during the holiday weekend. So we’ll spare you the grisly statistics of traffic fatalities of the past. We hope you have fun on this 3-day weekend! But please also be safe. And don’t forget what the purpose of this holiday is all about.

Super Heat & Air would like to wish our customers, families, and friends a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend! And remember that we work on weekends and holidays. So call us if you experience any AC problems during the holiday weekend.