Blackout Wednesday (also known as Drinksgiving) refers to

binge drinking Binge drinking, or heavy episodic drinking, is drinking alcoholic beverages with an intention of becoming intoxicated by heavy consumption of alcohol over a short period of time, but definitions ( see below) vary considerably. Binge drinking ...

on the night before the

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...

holiday in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Very few people work on Thanksgiving, and most college students are home with their families for the Thanksgiving holiday, which means that high school friends can catch up at the local tavern as they converge on their hometown. "Blacking out" is a slang term for

unconsciousness Unconsciousness is a state in which a living individual exhibits a complete, or near-complete, inability to maintain an consciousness, awareness of self and environment or to respond to any human or environmental Stimulus (physiology), stimulus. ...

and/or

memory loss Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use o ...

due to excessive

alcohol intoxication Alcohol intoxication, also known as alcohol poisoning, commonly described as drunkenness or inebriation, is the negative behavior and physical effects caused by a recent consumption of alcohol. In addition to the toxicity of ethanol, the main p ...

. In some suburbs of Chicago like Highwood and Naperville (where some places remove all bar stools for the night), Blackout Wednesday can be a more popular party night than even

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

Saint Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick ( ga, Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit=the Day of the Festival of Patrick), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patr ...

. Rockford, Illinois, about ninety minutes from Chicago, also has a robust Blackout Wednesday party crowd every year. In some cities, it is the worst drunk driving night of the year. Police departments increase patrols checking for drunk driving in many jurisdictions including in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

and

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. MADD reports that the Thanksgiving holiday produces more people killed in drunk driving crashes than the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

holiday. MADDbr>MADD’s “Tie One On For Safety” Holiday Campaign Cautions Drivers as More Highway Deaths Caused by Drunk Driving
11/13/2012 The name "Drinksgiving" dates to 2007. The concept itself is believed to have originated decades before the names.How the night before Thanksgiving became the biggest drinking night of the year
by Amelia Rayno, from the ''Star-Tribune'' of Minneapolis, Minnesota; November 22, 2017

References

Alcohol abuse in the United States Drinking culture Wednesday observances Observances based on the date of Thanksgiving (United States) {{Chicago-stub