June 10 Holidays

National Iced Tea Day celebrates the chilled tea popularized at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, where a tea vendor named Richard Blechynden poured his hot tea over ice during an unexpected heat wave — an improvisation that became a U.S. summer staple generating more than $10 billion in annual retail sales. Belmont Stakes is the third and final leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown, run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York — first held in 1867 and known as the Test of the Champion for its 1.5-mile distance, the longest of the Triple Crown races. National Ballpoint Pen Day marks June 10, 1943, when László Bíró and his brother György filed the U.S. patent for the ballpoint pen — a design they had developed after watching newspaper presses use quick-drying ink. Abolition Day marks June 10, 1794, when France formally abolished slavery for the first time — a decree reversed by Napoleon in 1802 before the Haitian Revolution made it permanent. A sweating glass, a 1.5-mile track, an ink cartridge, and a historic decree.