March 26, 2022 - National Spinach Day | Irish-American Heritage Month

Welcome to March 26th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate going green and Irish roots. The town of Crystal City, Texas survived the Great Depression thanks to an unlikely hero—Popeye the Sailor Man. In the 1930s, Popeye cartoons became very popular, which meant that kids everywhere saw him chomping away on his favorite snack—spinach. And, as luck would have it, Crystal City was a huge producer of spinach. Moms were thrilled that their kids wanted to eat the healthy food and business boomed as spinach was added to menus across the country. To this day, the town is known as the Spinach Capital of the World and they even have a Popeye statue erected outside city hall. On National Spinach Day, celebrate the veggie that still gives us our super strength. In the mid 1800s the Potato Famine in Ireland forced people to leave their country and many of them immigrated to the United States. The Irish had a tough go of it at first, but they managed to work their way into being respected members of the community. As a huge voting block they helped certain politicians get elected. By taking on jobs as police and firefighters, they were seen doing good deeds and the Irish became respected members of society. Since then we can count 22 American Presidents, authors, inventors, and entrepreneurs that can all claim Irish roots. During Irish American Heritage Month celebrate these indomitable folks who have added a tight knit to our cultural fabric. I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices