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When you stop to think about the Independence Day holiday, there are several things that might come to mind, and it's a sure bet that food and fireworks will be among them.
We certainly love our fireworks, and if you haven't already had the chance to take in a display, there will be plenty of opportunities during the next few days -- and even during the next couple of weeks.
You will not be alone -- 42 percent of Americans plan to attend a fireworks display this year. That's according to WalletHub, which adds that there will be more than 14,000 public displays set off this year. Those events, which generally last between 15 minutes and 30 minutes, each will cost between $10,000 and $50,000, the Washington, D.C.-based personal financial website said, while adding that the recommended insurance coverage for a fireworks show is $5 million.
Last year, Americans spent more than $2.7 billion on fireworks. That's a lot of money, especially when you factor in that Massachusetts has banned all consumer fireworks.
It makes you wonder where our area stands when it comes to states that import the most fireworks. Ohio, according to numbers compiled by Scholaroo, an online scholarship platform, ranks ninth with a value of $50,797,487, which works out to $4.31 per capita. Pennsylvania comes in at 16th with a value of $29,885, 697, which translates to $2.31 per capita. And, fireworks imported into West Virginia total $600,455 or 34 cents per capita, which drops it to 36th in the nation.
Missouri tops the listing, with a per capita total of $20.40 ($125,849, 673 in total value), while Massachusetts -- where, remember, consumer fireworks are illegal -- comes in 49th with a per capita total of one cent ($48,879 in total value.) No numbers were available from Delaware.
WalletHub reports that 97 percent of all the fireworks that are imported into the United States come from China and adds that the value of fireworks imported into the country each year is about $596 million.
That all adds up to a lot of celebrating -- and might lead you to wonder just where you can best enjoy the holiday. According to WalletHub, that's Los Angeles. Pittsburgh comes in at 23rd in the rankings, while Columbus is 27th and Cleveland is 33rd. Those rankings were determined after the numbers from 18 metrics were crunched, a dataset that includes the average price of beer and wine and the weather forecast.
Remember that food is a big part of the holiday celebration, and 65 percent of Americans listed a cookout as their favorite festivity for the Fourth. And there are some staggering numbers to back that up.
Americans are expected to spend $9.5 billion on food for the Fourth of July, and will eat 150 million hot dogs at a combined cost of $105 million. All of that will be washed down with $3 billion worth of beer ($2.3 billion) and wine ($700 million.)
In 2022, Americans purchased 750 million pounds of chicken in the week leading up the Fourth of July. When it comes to spending, beef tops the list at $844 million, with chicken second at $422 million, the pork at $212 million, sausages at $200 million and bacon at $173 million. Those numbers also show that we'll spend $127 million on melons and $88 million on tomatoes.
With all of that fun, though, comes some reasons for concern -- about 540 people are killed in car crashes on the holiday each year, and 212 people die in accidents that involved a driver with a BAC of .08 and higher. And, 212 lives would be saved during the holiday period if people would buckle their seat belts.
Independence Day is about showing the spirit of patriotism, which makes it surprising that only 57 percent of Americans say they own an American flag. A lot of those flags are made elsewhere -- the value of imported American flags last year was $6.5 million. Virginia, by the way, is the most patriotic state, the numbers show, while Arkansas is the least patriotic. In our region, West Virginia stands at 25th, Ohio at 31st and Pennsylvania at 42nd.
It's all food for thought as we celebrate our country's 247th birthday.
(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is executive editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times.)