Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of Thanksgiving
Believe it or not, this year’s Thanksgiving feast will mark the 400th anniversary of the original celebration, which dates back to 1621, one year after the first Pilgrims arrived on the North American continent. Imagine all the gatherings since then -- those during war and peace, prosperity and social upheaval, in times of sickness and health, and before turkey was the main event (circa 1827), the innovation of automobiles (1908) and NFL football began the tradition of playing on the day in 1934, thanks to the Detroit Lions. The arc of Thanksgiving through these four centuries provides an interesting glimpse of our nation’s development over time. Still, no matter the circumstances, there is an air of gratitude that envelopes this uniquely American feast, even more so this year, following last year’s substantially scaled-back holiday.
And that is true here at the Center for Illinois Politics, too. First and foremost, we are grateful for you, our faithful subscribers, readers, and followers of our data-driven reports on political trends and happenings around the state. We work hard to bring you top-notch, well-researched, articles and reports that are reviewed by the Center’s bipartisan board for neutrality before they are published.
We are thankful we can connect people in our state to politics. Often the subject of politics, especially in Illinois, can seem too remote, complicated, or murky to the average citizen. So we aim to interview experts and those directly involved to present independent reports that relate to readers and inform them with a transparent and engaging treatment of the subject. Our subscribers click and read our featured reports at an enviable rate, and we don’t take that for granted.
We are grateful to live in a state that has all the charms associated with the great Midwest, but at the same time, is dynamic, diverse and a real player on the national stage. Illinois has the best of both worlds in its 102 counties, which include rural treasures and regional cities as well as the metropolis of Chicago and its surrounding suburban landscape.
We appreciate, especially with next year’s elections looming, our relationship with the Illinois State Board of Elections, which helped with the creation of our IL Campaign Cash feature, a one-stop-shop to keep up with all the money that’s infiltrating Illinois politics these days. If you haven’t already, take a streamlined spin behind the scenes in the searchable database that contains campaign funds’ available cash, contribution sources, and expenditures.
We are also thankful that social networks provide another avenue to present our reports and stories, one that you can also use to comment and share. We are pleased to let you know that we’ve enhanced our Twitter feed and invite you to check it out to stay up-to-date and share content and comments that really resonate with you.
Two themes present throughout the history of Thanksgiving are “gather” and “gratitude.” So, as you gather this year -- whether it is a small group of immediate family or a larger one with friends, extended families, neighbors, those less fortunate -- enjoy your company, meal and your thoughts of gratitude. And rest assured that your friends at the Center for Illinois Politics will be gathering story leads, interview subjects, information, details and all the other good stuff to make and share the best content with our readers, which we are so grateful to have. Cheers!
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