Welcome to Worldwide Weird Holidays, where you’ll find a new reason to celebrate every day of the year.
July 14 is National Hot Dog Day
Today is National Hot Dog Day, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (NHDSC), an august body created by the North American Meat Institute, which has declared July to be National Hot Dog Month. The NHDSC serves as a clearinghouse of information about the preparation and nutritional quality of hot dogs and sausages, funded by contributions […]
July 9 is Flitch Day
Today is Flitch Day, a custom dating back to 1104 in Little Dunmow, a village in Essex, England. First, a little background is in order. A flitch is half a pig, cut lengthwise, salted and cured, also known as a full side of bacon. The story goes that a year and a day after their nuptials, Lord […]
International Cherry Pit Spitting Championship
July 2, 2016, is the 43rd Annual International Cherry Pit Spitting Championship, held each year in Eau Claire, MI, on the first Saturday of July. Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm hosts this event, calling it a “Spit-tacular Day” where you can “spit your pit in public with only a minimal loss of dignity while gaining fame.” It’s the only […]
World Championship Rotary Tiller Race
June 25, 2016, is the World Championship Rotary Tiller Race, the main event of the PurpleHull Pea Festival in Emerson, Arkansas. In 1990, Emerson native and part-time newspaper columnist Glen Eades decided his hometown needed a little excitement. As he explained, “We were so boring we didn’t even have a cop.” He approached Mayor Joe Mullins about […]
Giggin’ for Grads Night
Today is the 4th Annual Giggin’ for Grads Night, created in 2013 by the DeKalb County Young Farmers and Ranchers Club of Smithville, Tennessee, to raise funds for agricultural scholarships. In case you’re unfamiliar with the terminology, “gigging” is the use of a sharpened implement such as a pointed stick, called a “gig,” to spear […]
Polar Bear Swim
June 18, 2016, marks the 42nd annual Polar Bear Swim, celebrated in Nome, Alaska. Unlike many places in the USA’s lower 48 states (and Hawaii, of course), where taking a dip in the middle of June is a pleasure, splashing in the Bering Sea is not for the faint of heart. The water is barely above freezing. […]
National Flip Flop Day
June 17, 2016, is National Flip Flop Day, a holiday invented by U.S. national restaurant chain Tropical Smoothie Café. On the third Friday of June from 2 pm – 7 pm local time, every customer wearing flip flops will receive a free Jetty Punch Smoothie. Since 2007, the chain has raised funds for Camp Sunshine in Casco, […]
Buzzard Day 2016
June 11, 2016, is Buzzard Day in Glendive, Montana, and neighboring Makoshika, the state’s largest park, which covers 11,538 acres at an elevation of 2,415 feet above sea level. It falls on the second Saturday of June and celebrates the return of turkey vultures to eastern Montana. The name Makoshika (Ma-ko’-shi-ka) is derived from a Lakota phrase […]
June 7 is VCR Day
Today is VCR Day. It commemorates the date in 1975 when Sony Corporation supposedly released the Betamax videocassette recorder (VCR) made specifically for home use. Some histories place the release in November 1975. In any case, it beat JVC’s Video Home System (VHS) to market by a year. A VCR records the analog audio and […]
May 28 is Julia Pierpont Day
Today is Julia Pierpont Day, named in honor of the woman who originated Decoration Day. In 1866, Julia Pierpont, wife of the Governor of Virginia, noticed that the graves of Civil War soldiers in Richmond’s cemeteries looked neglected. She started Decoration Day to show respect for those who had given their lives by tending to […]