Happy National Pizza Day 2020!

There are so many fantastic pizza places and chains out there, in so many locations.  Where was the first place that you ever had pizza?  Which pizza place was it that you figured out made your favorite pizza?  There is so much history and so many memories tied up with pizza for all of us!

I decided that in this year 2020, I should celebrate National Pizza Day in an even bigger way than usual.  I decided that I would celebrate National Pizza Day 2020 in the most epic way possible:  by having pizza in three states!

The first state Pizza Event will be here, in Wisconsin, where my people are from! (We used to drive up to Merrill, Wisconsin 7 or 8 times a year to visit my Gramma, and until the Original Outlet Mall closed its doors, my mom (JanJanGeo) and I made a pilgrimmage to Pleasant Prarie WI every March to celebrate my birthday! –and there used to be one of these pizza places in the Original Outlet Mall, so their pizza was always my birthday dinner for decades!!)

The second state Pizza Event will be in Scherville, Indiana (GC8JARW)! –I spend most of my time in Indiana, shopping and eating (and caching), and it is about time that I established a “new” Indana pizza place for myself after the Cici’s here closed! (I left a cache in memory of the many times I was there!)

The third state Pizza Event will be in Naperville, Illinois (GC8J7V6)! I was introduced to that pizza place only a little while ago by theCachinCarpenter, but they’ve definitely got one of my all-time favorite pizzas!!

–to honor all those of you that might decide to celebrate this day by having pizza in three states, too, I will also be establishing a Tri State Pizza Challenge Cache that I hope to get published on National Pizza Day (GC code pending)!*****LEGAL NOTICE*****

In all honesty, National Pizza Day is on Sunday, February 9th. Due to unforeseen familiar obligations, I have been forced to change the dates of my events to a day earlier on Saturday, February 8th. –I’m hoping you’re willing to come and celebrate with me 24 hours early!! ((for those of you that are purists, the event that is actually on National Pizza Day will be in Whiting, Indiana [“National Pizza Day Event”, GC8H4P8, hosted by Jqline]!!!))

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first, about the venue:

we will be meeting at

Rocky Rococo’s

6631 Washington Ave.

Racine, WI 53406

10:30 a.m. – noon

This is now the closest Rocky Rococo’s location for me!  As mentioned earlier, I spent decades eating at their location in the Original Outlet Mall, and then we had to start making some pilgrimmages to Kenosha, WI to get my RR fix.  –Now, the pilgrimmage is even longer!!!!!

I’m hoping to preorder a few pizzas, so that we can (fingers crossed) get the pizzas as soon as they open, and as long as they last you are welcome to grab a slice! RR’s also always has individual slices available,too, if you don’t like our pizza choices, as well as other foodstuffs if you would like to order something else. (Their menu is available online if you want to see what else is available.) Feel free to help us eat our pizzas while they last! –or just come and hang out if pizza is not on your agenda that day!

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next, a little history:

According to www.holidayscalendar.com, the original “pizza” was a dish created by the Romans out of bread that was covered in various layers of herbs, sauce, and cheese.  However, while those early dishes were technically “pizza”, what people would recognize as the modern pizza wouldn’t be invented until around the 18th century.  This is when some of the citizens of Naples, Italy began to create flat bread dishes covered in garlic, basil, cheese, and eventually tomatoes.

During the nineteenth century, Italian immigrants began to bring this dish to the United States.  However, pizza did not really become popular until servicemen returning from World War II arrived home after developing a taste for it in Italy.  This is when the pizza market in the United States exploded, and made pizza one of the most popular foods in America.

According to https://nationaldaycalendar.com, some interesting facts about pizza include:

* Antica Pizzeria, the first pizzeria ever, opened in Naples, Italy in 1738.

*Gennaro Lombardi, the first pizzeria in the United States, opened in 1895 in New York City.

* Over 3 billion pizzas are sold in the Unted States every year, and an additional 1 billion frozen pizzas are also sold in the Unted States each year.

* 17% of all restaurants in the United States are pizzerias.

* Americans consume, on average, 23 pounds of pizza per person per year!

* Pepperoni is the most popular pizza topping, with pepperoni pizza being 36% of all pizzas ordered.

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Please join us, hang out, grab some pizza, and wax nostaligic for pizzas of the past!  We’ll have some raffle prizes, and hopefully some pizza-themed trinkets will arrive in time to give out as well.

Happy National Pizza Day 2020!!