PROFILE AMERICA

July 4, 2008

Independence Day

Today is the most American of holidays — Independence Day.

From Pennsylvania to Alabama to New Mexico, there will be parades, band concerts, barbecues, and of course, fireworks. Biwabik, Minnesota, will host its annual Calithumpian Parade, boosting its normal population of 1,000 to 15,000 for the day. And Hood River, Oregon, will stage its old-fashioned Fourth of July on the banks of the Columbia River.

It was on this day in 1776 that the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, starting some 2.5 million people on the road to becoming a sovereign nation — a nation that today is home to more than 304 million Americans

You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.