Arts & Entertainment
Ginger Snapshots: 5 Fiery Facts to Know Before Going to Redhead Days
Highwood's weekend event celebrates 50 Shades of Red, but how high is your Crimson Coif Quotient?
And although you might be enjoying live music sponsored by The Redhead Piano Bar and School of Rock and "red-centric" games, such as red butt-bouncer obstacle course races and inflatable plastic bubble soccer, how much do you know about the reason for the festivities and its theme of 50 Shades of Red? How vast is your knowledge about gingers, carrot tops, coppertops, flame craniums?
- When: Saturday, June 4, and Sunday, June 5
- Where: City Hall Park and Everts Park, Highwood
- More Info: Check out the event's Facebook page,Twitter feed and Instagram account. Go to the festival's listing in the Highland Park Patch calendar for times and other details.
In other words, what's your Crimson Coif Quotient?
Patch put together some quick facts about redheads that you might not know. Think of it as conversation starter when you're taking in the festivities around City Hall and Everts parks Saturday and Sunday.
1. Redheads Could be X-Men
That's because those 1 to 2 percent of the human population with red hair are mutants. Or more accurately, they carry the mutated MC1R gene that creates the red pigment pheomelan.
Sure, that doesn't make redheads Wolverine, but even Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique knows going ginger makes a mutant even cooler.
SOURCE: Live Science
2. South Park Episode: Curse or Blessing?
Much of the recent attention redheads have received can be attributed to a 2005 episode of South Park, which poked fun at gingers, claiming they had no souls.
But not all that attention has been good. It's believed the episode is responsible for inspiring the creation of a Facebook group in 2008 called "National Kick a Ginger Day, are you going to do it?" And a redhead kid in 2010 posted an impassioned YouTube video that criticized the show for saying people with red hair didn't have souls.
SOURCE: South Park Wikia
3. Redheads Have More Fun … in Bed
A study of 6,000 German women found that redheads were more sexually active with more partners than blondes and brunettes. Can't argue with science.
SOURCE: Reader's Digest
4. Gingers Aren't Dying Out
Because redheads make up so small a portion of the population, rumors constantly persist that the hair color will eventually fade away in the human race.
But that's not true, according to red-haired science journalist Maggie Koerth-Baker. She points out that while only 2 percent of the population might be redheaded, 4 percent of people carry the mutant ginger gene. That means there's always a possibility that two brunettes will create a redhead, but two redheads would never produce a brunette.
SOURCE: BoingBoing
5. Sometimes, Redheads Can be Judgmental
One of the centerpiece events of Highwood's Redhead Days is the second annual Carrot Cake Throwdown, which will pit local bakers' best carrot cake recipes against one another.
The judges of the competition also will include at least two redheads: Ellen, who writes The Ginger Philes blog for Chicago Now; and Joe Vince, the editor who covers Highland Park and other North Shore communities for Patch.com—and the writer behind this little tutorial about titian tresses you've been reading.
I can't vouch how much our hair color will aid me when it comes to judging the carrot cakes, but if you spot me in that sea of scarlet, don't hesitate to say hello and chat.
PHOTO: Highwood's Redhead Days from 2015. (Tim Moran | Patch.com)
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