Friday, June 10th. This year’s Cereal City Festival kicks off this evening with a parade in downtown Battle Creek, Michigan. But the highlight of the festival, in the city that bills itself as the Cereal Capital of the World, is the world’s longest breakfast table. On Saturday morning, hundreds of volunteers will be serving breakfast in shifts to perhaps 70,000 people — greater than Battle Creek’s population of about 52,000. Our first enduring breakfast cereal is Shredded Wheat, created around 1893 in Denver, Colorado. Battle Creek is the birthplace of America’s flaked cereal industry in 1895, and 11 of the 69 breakfast cereal manufacturers in the U.S. have Michigan addresses. Battle Creek’s Kellogg’s and Post companies are prominent in the industry, which generates $9.8 billion of product annually. Profile America is in its 20th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Saturday, June 11th. This is National Dairy Month, observed since 1937 when it was called National Milk Month. The makers of butter, cheese and ice cream wanted some recognition, so it shortly changed to its current name, and promotes the quality and nutritional benefits of refrigerated dairy products. Americans eat more dairy products than any other food group except fruits and vegetables, averaging 612 pounds each annually. This includes about 36 pounds of various cheeses, 23 pounds of ice cream, sherbet and other frozen products, and 165 pounds of milk. About 130,000 people work in America’s dairy manufacturing industry, one that ships products valued at more than $112 billion annually. You can find more facts about America’s people, places and economy, from the American Community Survey, at <www.census.gov>.
Sunday, June 12th. It’s time for gowns, carnations, diplomas, and lots of pictures. This is the season for graduations — with ceremonies being held all over the country for students from kindergarten to graduate school. In the U.S., there are more than 77 million students at all levels of schooling — some 41.4 million from nursery through elementary school, almost 17 million in high school, and more than 19 million in college. High school graduation rates have grown steadily through the years, so that now, around 8-out-of-10 young adults have a diploma. The rate for college graduates has also grown. In 1940, just 5 percent of Americans had a bachelor’s degree or higher — today, that figure is well over 30 percent, or more than 72 million people. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at <www.census.gov>.