Onward, MS
The Teddy Bear: The Mississippi Guide Who Gave a President a Shot and Accidentally Started a Toy Aisle
Before the teddy bear was tucked into cribs or propped on Valentine’s Day shelves, it was tied to a tree in the Mississippi woods.
Today’s storyCheraw, SC
Dizzy Gillespie's Bent Trumpet Wasn't Planned; It Started With a Party Mishap He Decided to Keep
The trumpet bell was supposed to point straight ahead, neat and obedient, but after one Manhattan party it looked as if it had spotted something interesting on the ceiling.
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Loveland, CO
Valentine’s Day Has a Colorado Postmark: The Loveland Man Who Let Strangers Borrow His City’s Name
The envelopes came for the name first: Loveland. Before ink pads and special verses, people were already sending valentines to a Colorado town because the postmark sounded like a wink.
Seligman, AZ
Pixar’s Cars Has a Fictional Town; Its Arizona Heart Began in Angel Delgadillo’s Barber Shop
Before children knew Radiator Springs, there was the smell of aftershave in Seligman, Arizona, and the soft snip-snip of scissors near a highway that never seemed to stop moving.
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Centreville, VA
Stonehenge and the Virginia April Fools’ Joke That Refused to Disappear
On a hillside near Natural Bridge, Virginia, Stonehenge appeared with a wink: huge gray “stones” that looked ancient from the road, but were actually carved from Styrofoam.
Tupelo, MS
Elvis Presley's First Guitar: The Tupelo Hardware Birthday Gift That Wasn't a Rifle
A boy walked into a hardware store hoping for a rifle and walked out with a guitar. That’s the funny little hinge in the story: the louder future came from the safer present.
Newport, RI
Duke Ellington at Newport: the comeback solo Paul Gonsalves played into the wrong microphone
By the time Duke Ellington called the tune, the night air at Freebody Park had the sleepy feel of a party running out of coffee. Then a tenor saxophone began to climb, and climb, and climb.
Salt Lake City, UT
The Tabernacle Choir Broadcast Began with a 19-Year-Old on a Ladder
Before the choir’s music could reach homes beyond Utah, a 19-year-old had to climb a ladder. Not for decoration, not for drama, but because the microphone was up there.
Augusta, GA
The Masters Green Jacket, and the Augusta Caddie Who Caught the Champion When He Finally Let Go
The famous picture from that Masters was all green jacket and champion’s grin. Just beside it was a quieter Georgia story: a man who knew that golf course like a kitchen floor that creaks in all the…
Colorado Springs, CO
NORAD Tracks Santa Began With a Colorado Colonel Answering a Wrong Number
A military phone rang inside a serious room in Colorado Springs, and the voice on the line was very small. It wasn’t warning of aircraft in the sky. It was asking for Santa Claus. Col. Harry W.
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