In 1893, Chicago drained a swamp on Lake Michigan and built a city out of plaster and light. They called it the White City. About twenty-seven million visits were made to it — in a country of sixty-five million people.

It gave us the Ferris wheel. It settled the argument over how electricity would work. It launched Cracker Jack, Juicy Fruit, Shredded Wheat, and the zipper. Frederick Douglass gave one of the great unscripted speeches of his life there. And then, nine months after the gates closed, almost every building was ash.

Sarah and Scott go to the fair — and stay for the very strange ending nobody tells you about.

In this episode:

• Top 10 Greatest Moments of the 1893 World's Fair — the first Ferris wheel, the night they turned on 100,000 electric lights, the dishwasher that won top honors, and the two inventions everyone at the fair completely ignored
• Rapid Fire & Would You Rather — you've got one day at the fair, where do you run? Would you rather have invented the zipper or the dishwasher?
• From the News Desk: What Happened to the White City — the winter squatters, the fire that took seven palaces in a single night, the Ferris wheel they blew up with dynamite, and the one building still standing in Chicago today
• From the News Desk: The Last Saturday — the mayor of Chicago was assassinated two days before closing day, and the greatest celebration ever planned became a funeral
• The Hullabaloo Debate — is the Ferris wheel the most overrated ride ever invented?

Tomfoolery & Hullabaloo is a family friendly comedy and history podcast for ages 8 to 80 — designed to make you laugh and think. New episodes weekly.

If you came here from Devil in the White City — we cover the real fair Erik Larson built his book around; not the murderer HH Holmes. We are saving him for another episode!

Keywords: 1893 Chicago World's Fair, World's Columbian Exposition, the White City, first Ferris wheel, Nikola Tesla, Daniel Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted, Frederick Douglass, Chicago history, American history podcast, family friendly podcast, history fun facts, weird history, homeschool history, clean comedy podcast

Did you know that "carrots improve your night vision" is a lie invented by the British government in World War II — to hide a secret radar system from the Nazis? It worked so well that parents are still telling kids about it today. We cover the whole wild story on this episode of Tomfoolery and Hullabaloo, the clean, family-friendly comedy and education podcast that makes you laugh AND think.

This week is all about food and vegetables. We kick off with rapid fire questions: dream meals, best restaurants, worst military MRE horror stories, and the food you loved as a kid that now disgusts you. Then we put each other through the Would You Rather wringer — fast food for a year versus gas station food for six months, eating a raw onion every day versus giving up all seasoning forever, and a scorched earth final round involving a bowl of mayonnaise that no one will recover from.

Our Top 10 tackles the international foods Americans mispronounce most — gyros, gnocchi, pho, açaí, charcuterie, quinoa, Worcestershire sauce, caprese, macaron, tzatziki — and yes, we attempt every single one on air with zero preparation.

Then the News Desk: the true story of RAF night fighter ace "Cat's Eyes" Cunningham, the secret AI radar the British government hid behind a vegetable, and the nationwide carrot propaganda campaign that may have also fooled the Luftwaffe.

We close with a Hullabaloo Debate — meat versus no meat. Which diet actually wins? We go there.

Tomfoolery and Hullabaloo is a family-friendly podcast perfect for curious minds of all ages — history lovers, military veterans, food nerds, and anyone who has ever confidently mispronounced something at a restaurant. New episodes every week. Subscribe and leave us a review!

America is 250 years old — so we're skipping the parts you already know and going straight to the good stuff.

No Paul Revere. No cherry tree. Instead: the United States Army once bought seventy camels and marched them across Texas. A bankrupt man declared himself Emperor of the United States and San Francisco just went along with it. Two paleontologists hated each other so much they accidentally invented American dinosaur science. And in 2026, the whole world came to America for the World Cup and left obsessed with ranch dressing.

This is a clean, family friendly history podcast for curious kids, tired parents, homeschoolers, road trips, and anyone who likes learning things that sound made up but absolutely aren't.

In this episode:

• Rapid Fire — best state flag, most underrated state, and which American invention we'd un-invent
• Would You Rather: American History Edition — Kitty Hawk or Philadelphia in 1776? The Oregon Trail or the Mayflower?
• From the News Desk: The U.S. Army Camel Corps — the true story of America's forgotten camel cavalry, Camp Verde, Texas, and a camel driver named Hi Jolly
• From the News Desk: The 2026 World Cup — a record 6.8 million fans, Spain's win over Argentina, the USMNT's first knockout win since 2002, and why international visitors could not stop filming Buc-ee's
• Top 10 Most Obscure but Wonderful Moments in American History — the Pig War, the disastrous 1904 Olympic marathon, the time people mailed their children through the U.S. Mail, and the Choctaw Nation's extraordinary gift to Ireland in 1847
• The Hullabaloo Debate — should the wild turkey replace the bald eagle as America's national bird? (Plus: the bald eagle wasn't legally the national bird until December 2024. Really.)

Tomfoolery & Hullabaloo is a family friendly comedy and education podcast for all ages — designed to make you laugh and think. New episodes weekly.

Keywords: American history for kids, US history podcast, family friendly podcast, clean comedy podcast, history fun facts, America 250, semiquincentennial, World Cup 2026, homeschool history, road trip podcast, would you rather questions, top 10 history, weird history, kids trivia podcast