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

Act 343 of 1983, also known as the April Fools’ Day Act, made Arkansas the only state in the Union to recognize April Fools’ Day as an official state holiday. The act recognized “the historical impact of April Fools’ Day celebrations upon the history of Arkansas” and encouraged a “healthy, but not overzealous, continuation of this proud tradition for Arkansans of all ages in our modern era.” The celebration of April Fools’ Day has a long history in the state of Arkansas. Though not much is known about how it was celebrated by early French or Spanish explorers, the holiday apparently did lend its name to some geographical features. Poison Spring in Ouachita County, according to some early records, takes …

The Arkansas Egg Men were a notorious band of chicken thieves who ruffled plenty of feathers in northeast Arkansas during the 1960s and 1970s. Most famously, they are said to be the inspiration for the Beatles’ iconic track “I Am the Walrus”: On the group’s brief stopover in Walnut Ridge (Lawrence County) on September 20, 1964, it is alleged that Beatle John Lennon overheard someone in the crowd whisper “I am an Egg Man,” a line that he later adapted for the song. In the early 1960s, members of the Egg Men were considered first-rate poachers. However, as farmers in the region grew wise to their tactics, by the mid-1960s they were increasingly forced to scramble away from their targets. …