Welcome to Worldwide Weird Holidays, where you’ll find a new reason to celebrate every day of the year.
National Waffle Iron Day
National Waffle Iron Day celebrates one of the world’s favorite kitchen appliances. Although today’s date appears to have no historical significance, from Medieval communion wafers to Nike sneakers, there’s no doubt that the waffle iron has made quite an impression on world history. The waffle iron’s earliest known predecessor is the Medieval fer à hosties, irons […]
INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY
Today is INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY, celebrated on June 28 and October 22 each year. Derek Arnold created the unofficial holiday in October 2000 to draw attention to those who abuse the Caps Lock key and, by extension, everyone who receives their emails, texts, and Internet screeds. Arnold claimed he had a higher purpose in mind, […]
June 28 is Monday Holiday Law Day
Today is Monday Holiday Law Day. Call it the mother of all holidays about holidays, and Lyndon B. Johnson the father of the long weekend. On June 28, 1968, President Johnson signed a bill moving the official celebration of Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day from their traditional dates to Mondays. The change was […]
Happy Birthday to You Day
Today is Happy Birthday to You Day. While this song may evoke pleasant memories for us, at one point, the right to sing it was so hotly contested that 6,000 Girl Scout camps received letters demanding the payment of royalty fees. On this date in 1893, teachers (and sisters) Mildred and Patty Hill composed a […]
Barcode Day
Today is Barcode Day. On June 26, 1974, at Marsh’s Supermarket in Troy, Ohio, a 10-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit gum became the first product bearing a barcode to be rung up by an electronic scanner. That historic moment had been a long time in the making. In 1952, American inventors Norman J. Woodland and Bernard Silver were […]
RIP World Championship Rotary Tiller Race
June 25, 2025: When we first wrote about the World Championship Rotary Tiller Race, we thought the tradition would last forever. Unfortunately, 2022 marked the 32nd and final PurpleHull Pea Festival and Rotary Tiller Race. That’s unfortunate because, as you can see from our write-up, it was a great reason to travel to Emerson, Arkansas. […]
RIP Giggin’ for Grads Night
June 24, 2025: We wrote about Giggin’ for Grads Night back in 2016. We’ve been unable to find any information since then about subsequent celebrations. We reached out to the DeKalb County Farmers Bureau to determine if the event has indeed been discontinued and if a new event has replaced it to fund scholarships for […]
Pink Flamingo Day
Today is Pink Flamingo Day, founded on June 23, 2007, by Mayor Dean Mazzarella of Leominster, Massachusetts, to honor the 50th birthday of the iconic lawn ornaments that have happily survived despite homeowners’ associations’ attempts to hunt them to extinction. In 1957, art school graduate Don Featherstone was tasked with creating a pink flamingo for his employer, […]
National Onion Ring Day
Today is National Onion Ring Day. The first known iteration of the onion ring appeared in the 1802 cookbook “The Art of Cookery.” The recipe for Fried Onions with Parmesan Cheese called for onions to be sliced into 1/2 inch rings, dredged in a batter of flour, cream, salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese, then deep-fried […]
Polar Bear Swim
June 21, 2025, marks the 51st annual Polar Bear Swim, celebrated in Nome, Alaska, on the Saturday closest to the summer solstice (on June 21). 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 […]