Holidays by Month Archives - Page 49 of 93

June 21 is Go Skateboarding Day

June 21, 2017/1 Comment/in June

Rebellion, trademarked.

Today is Go Skateboarding Day, created in 2004 by the International Association of Skateboard Companies (IASC). We’d like to let the founders describe their motives.

According to the IASC site, “The holiday began June 21, 2004, as an excuse for skateboarders to make skateboarding their top priority.”

It goes on to describe the day in a way that sounds a bit less selfless:

Go Skateboarding Day is a cooperative of decentralized events that take place around the globe. Skateboard retailers, manufacturers, skateparks, distributors, organizations and individuals of all colors, creeds, and attitudes hold skateboarding events to celebrate the holiday.

Lest we despair that the S in skateboarding stands for $, that cynical capitalists aim to exploit young consumers, the IASC explains the day’s focus:

Go Skateboarding Day originated as the day for skateboarders to have fun, to raise awareness about the issues we face; to show the world what skateboarding is really all about; to reclaim our culture; and to define skateboarding as the rebellious, creative celebration of independence it continues to be.

What could be a more rebellious, creative celebration of independence than a corporate-sponsored holiday?

In the years since that first celebration, the holiday continues to grow, but the mission remains the same: Have fun, go skateboarding!

We would add only one thing: Have fun, go skateboarding and buy stuff!

May 25 is Towel Day

May 25, 2017/0 Comments/in May

Today is Towel Day, created to honor Douglas Adams, author of the beloved Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, after he passed away on May 11, 2001, at the age of 49. It took fans two weeks to organize a worldwide tribute to Adams. May 25th has remained Towel Day ever since.

Happy Towel Day from the International Space Station!

Why is it called Towel Day? The towel is an indispensable part of a hitchhiker’s kit. Here is a portion of the explanation in Chapter 3 of the first novel:

A towel … is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch-hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini-raft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you — daft as a brush, but very very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

What is the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything (third in the Hitchhiker’s series)? Plug this into Google Search to find the answer….

Happy Towel Day!

May 24 is International Tiara Day

May 24, 2017/0 Comments/in May

Today is International Tiara Day, created in 2005 by Barbara Bellissimo as a one-time accompaniment to her self-improvement program, Seasons of Success.

In 2008, Lynanne White of American Rose Bridal asked for and received Barbara’s permission to make International Tiara Day an annual tradition. When she discovered May 24, 1819, had been Queen Victoria’s birthday, she decided to keep the date as is.

Since 2009, May 24th has given every woman in the world who secretly dreams of being a princess the opportunity to don an obviously fake, bedazzled headband–or, in the case of Kate Middleton and Queen Elizabeth, a priceless, jewel-encrusted symbol of divine rule.

Why not go gender-neutral? Princes wear crowns, too! So put on your physical or metaphorical tiaras, everybody, and have a happy International Tiara Day!

May 18 is I Love Reese’s Day

May 18, 2017/0 Comments/in May

Today is I Love Reese’s Day, a celebration of the marriage of chocolate and peanut butter and the visionary who got them together in the first place.

This mascot is creepy, no?

In 1917, Harry Burnett Reese (May 24, 1879 – May 16, 1956) took a job on a dairy farm owned by the Hershey Company and later worked in the candy factory itself.

Inspired, he began to experiment with different candy formulas in his basement, with the intention of making extra money to care for his growing family.

He created the H. B. Reese Candy Company in 1923, selling a large variety of confections. He was so successful that three years later he was able to build a factory as well as a new home.

By 1928, Reese and his wife Blanche had sixteen children. That same year, H. B. Reese invented Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, sometimes called penny cups because they cost one cent apiece. They quickly became his most popular treat.

In response to sugar rationing during World War II, Reese chose to discontinue production of everything but the peanut butter cups, which required less sugar than his other candies. It was a savvy move that guaranteed his family’s prosperity.

Reese died in 1956 at the age of 76, leaving the company to his six sons, Robert, John, Ed, Ralph, Harry, and Charles Richard Reese. In 1963, they decided to sell the business to the Hershey’s Chocolate Company, where Reese had gotten his start close to 50 years before.

Documentation shows the brothers received 666,316 Hershey shares, then valued at $23.5 million. By 2013, after 50 years of stock splits, those shares had become sixteen million shares, valued at more than $1 billion, paying $31 million in annual cash dividends.

In 2010, Hershey sponsored a Facebook petition to declare May 18 I Love Reese’s Day and reported that 40,000 people signed it. Since then, it’s been promoted by the National Peanut Board and reigns as the most popular candy in the United States.

Today, Hershey announced it will introduce a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup stuffed with Reese’s Pieces. Tasty combination or culinary abomination? You decide and, no matter what your favorite is, have a happy I Love Reese’s Day!

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