Today is...

[IceWizard]

Sunday 28 Aug 2016

Bow Tie Day



A whirling noise in the distance, followed by a male in a bow tie and a female in a summer dress running out of a blue police box. A small wooden puppet with a large blue bow tie that is still there when the puppet comes to life.. Or a sharply dressed man hunting around for information in order to save the world from annihilation.

All three examples are notable by a bow tie that the character wears. Whether it be the Doctor from Dr. Who, Pinocchio, or James Bond, each wears a bow tie very well, and accentuates it for that very character.

History of Bow Tie Day

The bow tie has it’s origins, not in France like many think, but in Croatia. The French military forces had seen the way the Crotian soldiers tied the necktie in order to keep the collars of their shirts together during the Thirty Year War.

After that, tobacco magnate Pierre Lorillard wore one to the Tuxedo Club, and his black and white fashion sense blossomed into becoming the Tuxedo we know currently in fashion.

Typically the bow tie is worn as an accessory to accentuate the neck, helping draw eyes up to the face and away from the shoulders and chest.

And



Pony Express Day



Pony Express Day celebrates those brave souls who made up the unique mail delivery system of the same name. Back in the days of the wild west, there was no Fed Ex, no Postal Service that ran that far west, no planes, and delivery by ship was likely to take months if it ever got there at all.

Seeing this need for a specialized delivery service, Leavenworth and Pike’s Peak Express Company took an opportunity to expand into this void. From this important decision was born one of the most iconic pieces of American History, whose influence is felt in hundreds of Pony Express Day Festivals throughout the American Midwest.

History

The Pony Express existed for 18 months between the days of April 3, 1860 to October 1861. In these days there was no air mail, no great American Highway, all there was was hundreds of miles of wide open spaces with not much in between but animal filled wilderness and bandito filled hollows.

During this time, if you wanted to send a letter or small package from anywhere East past the gateway of St. Joseph, Missouri, there was only one way to go. The Pony Express was a massive employer for it’s time, with up to 80 young riders employed at any given stage, with stringent requirements on their age, size, and weight.

The Pony Express preferred to employ the youngest riders they could, in part for their resilience, and in part for how light they were. The lighter a man was the longer the horse could run and the more cargo the rider could carry, and since the horses were put to go full tilt for 10 to 15 miles at a stretch before changing, this was of vital importance.

The rider changed out every 75 to 100 miles, but the mail never so much as slowed even in the worst of weather. While the average trip from coast to coast (On Horseback!) took 10 days, when they delivered Lincoln’s Inaugural Address, the trip was made in a mere 7 days and 17 hours.