Indiana

Many talented musicians, including Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Adam Lambert and Axl Rose were all born in the state of Indiana. You have 45 minutes to solve the Indiana Breakout to keep the music playing! Get going and good luck.

Indiana became the 19th state on December 11, 1816. The largest city, Indianapolis, is also the capital.

The state's nickname is the Hoosier State. No one is really clear on where the nickname came from, but Hoosiers are proud of their nickname.

The abbreviation for Indiana is IN.

Indiana borders four other states: Michigan to the north, Ohio to the east, Kentucky to the south and southeast, and Illinois to the west.

The first successful goldfish farm in the United States was opened in Martinsville, Indiana in 1899.

There are over 94,000 farmers in Indiana. The average farm size is 264 acres. The top five agricultural products in Indiana in 2017 were corn, soybeans, hogs, dairy products, and chicken eggs.

Colonel Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurants was not from Kentucky.

He was from Indiana! He was born in the small town of Henryville in 1890.

By July of 1940, Sanders created KFC's super secret scrumptious recipe blend of 11 herbs and spices for his fried chicken. So yummy!

The Indiana state flag was designed by a Hoosier, Paul Hadley. He won a design contest held for the state’s centennial celebration. The torch is a symbol for liberty and enlightenment. The rays are said to represent Indiana’s “far-reaching influence.” There are 19 stars because Indiana was the 19th state to join the Union.

Indiana and Nebraska grow roughly 55% of the nation's popcorn.

Orville Redenbacher (pictured at the right) is the original popcorn entrepreneur. He was born on July 16, 1907 in Brazil, Indiana. Ever since he was a young boy, Redenbacher had one mission: to create the perfect popping corn.

As an adult, he dedicated all his free time to developing a tasty popcorn. He worked with Charlie Bowman and they created a new hybrid corn called RedBow.

Orville first sold the kernels from the trunk of his car. Around the year 1972, he started appearing in television commercials to sell his new popcorn. His popcorn comes in many delicious flavors.

Orville Redenbacher died in Coronado, California, on September 19, 1995.

Indiana has a town named Popcorn!!

The first train robbery in the United States happened in Jackson County, Indiana. On October 6, 1866, a gang of robbers by the name of the "Reno Brothers" thought it would be a good idea to rob a train.

They did it right in Jackson County, making off with a total of $13,000.

The World's Largest Ball of Paint is located in Alexandria, Indiana.

Michael Carmichael started this striking spectacular sphere of paint on January 1, 1977. His three-year-old son put the very first coat of blue paint on the baseball.

Did you know you can make an appointment and paint a layer also? You can sign the wall and even receive a certificate. What color would you choose? Blue, purple, green or red.