Entries - Entry Category: ...and April Fools' Day - Starting with G

“Garbecue” is a catch-all term for a trend in aquatic-themed barbecue that was promoted by Arkansas tourism officials in the late 1990s. At the time, in addition to promoting healthier eating, state boosters were hoping to hype a distinctive Arkansas barbecue culture. Arkansas had long been influenced by the more prominent Texas, Memphis, and Kansas City traditions, and state leaders were at a loss as to how to compete with these regional culinary hubs in terms of meat preparation. State leaders landed on the idea of creating a whole new field of barbecue that centered upon the smoking of fish and other aquatic creatures. The attempt to sell the state’s consumers on barbecued fish failed rather spectacularly, although it did …

The Gospel Bridges Relay Race of 2011 was an attempt on the part of several Pulaski County churches to foster multicultural understanding among the various ethnic and immigrant groups inhabiting the central Arkansas area. Such good intentions did not produce the desired result, however, with the race instead inspiring headlines about cheating and acts of ritual humiliation. The race had its genesis in the social outreach efforts of Pastor Marianne Wilkins of Pulaski Heights Methodist Church. Recognizing that, nearly ten years after the events of September 11, 2001, xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiments were far from abating, she enlisted the help of other local pastors to sponsor a relay race that would bring community members together in the spirit of friendly …

Gösta von Fersens underbara resa genom de södra amerikanska delstaterna och bortom Mississippi floden, med berättelser om manga konstiga och gåtfulla händelser is an 1837 travelogue written by minor Swedish nobleman Gösta von Fersen, the English title of which would translate to Gösta von Fersen’s Amazing Journey through the Southern States of America and beyond the Mississippi River, with Narratives of Many Strange and Enigmatic Occurrences. The book sold poorly when it was first released, being regarded as an odd combination of rather dull diary entries and the kind of fantastic tales of mysterious creatures common to travel narratives before the “Age of Reason,” and it has not yet been published in a complete English translation. The interest in the …