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August 13 is TugFest

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Today is the 30th annual TugFest. In 1987, residents of Port Byron, Illinois, and LeClaire, Iowa, decided it would be fun to have a tug-of-war. They didn’t let the fact that the towns are separated by the Mississippi River get in their way.

tugfest 2016

Preparing for the heave-ho on the Iowan side

tugfest 2016

The tradition continues today with 11 teams of 20 tuggers on either side of 2700 feet of rope, vying each year for bragging rights and custody of the trophy, an alabaster statue of an eagle in flight.

Traffic on the Mississippi River is halted for the duration of the competition, which is sponsored by local businesses and benefits kids’ clubs and charities.

Other events taking place this weekend include a parade, food vendors, 5K run, carnival rides on both sides of the river and one big fireworks display on Friday night.

More than 35,000 people are expected to attend this year.Whether you’re participating or just enjoying watching the fun, have a happy TugFest!

Copyright 2016 Worldwide Weird Holidays

National Flip Flop Day

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national flip flop dayNational Flip Flop Day is a holiday invented by the U.S. national restaurant chain Tropical Smoothie Café. On the third Friday of June, from 2 pm to 7 pm local time, every customer wearing flip-flops will receive a free Jetty Punch Smoothie.

From 2007 to 2020, Tropical Smoothie Café customers donated $ 7.5 million for Camp Sunshine in Casco, Maine. There, children with life-threatening illnesses and their families can have fun while surrounded by professionals devoted to their emotional and medical support.

Tropical Smoothie Café now partners with No Kids Hungry. While you enjoy your smoothie, why not donate the money you save to a worthy cause?

Happy National Flip Flop Day!

P.S.: In 2009, two New York Daily News reporters wore flip-flops for four days, then had them swabbed. The lab tests found fecal bacteria, Aerococcus viridans, Rothia mucilaginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus, among other organisms. So after you get home, take those things off and wash your feet!

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May 28 is Julia Pierpont Day

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Today is Julia Pierpont Day, named in honor of the woman who originated Decoration Day. julia pierpont 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 their final resting places.

Decoration Day provided the inspiration for Memorial Day. It takes place every year on the Saturday before the federal holiday. In 2005, it was proclaimed an official holiday in West Virginia.

Happy Julia Pierpont Day, Decoration Day, and Memorial Day!

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International Virtual Assistants Day 2016

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International Virtual Assistants DayToday is 2016’s International Virtual Assistants Day (IVAD), which honors the support staff who will never hit on a coworker, pass gas in the conference room, or steal someone else’s yogurt from the company fridge. It takes place on the third Friday of May, during the Online International Virtual Assistants Convention (OIVAC).

On OIVAC’s home page, the header indicates the convention runs from May 19-21, 2016, but the text refers to the “upcoming” IVAD celebration on May 17, 2013. The latest blog post is from 2012. The names of past winners of the Thomas Leonard Virtual Assistant of Distinction Award and the Janet Jordan Achievement Award are listed from 2006-2012, which would make this its 11th year.

To learn more, we signed up for OIVAC 2016’s free informational seminar. When we received the confirmation email, we clicked on the link, which took us back to the signup page. (We don’t care to admit how many times we repeated the action to make sure it wasn’t our fault. It wasn’t.)

This shook our confidence in the “IVAD Creed: Dedication, Experience, Expertise and Determination to Succeed of professionals providing administrative and other business support services, virtually (DEEDS), exemplifies our integrity and commitment to provide superior service.”

Everyone makes mistakes, but when you know you’ll dedicate one day each year to attracting positive attention to your profession, why not avail yourself of a quick copy edit in advance? Maybe the site’s proofreaders are truly virtual; we’ve only assumed they exist in real life.

In a last-ditch effort for answers, we decided to visit the A*************, listed on the OIVAC site and identified on some sites as a sponsor of the convention and holiday. We are not going to name the organization here because when we clicked on the calendar dropdown, it resulted in a malicious website script redirect attack that Norton Antivirus deemed “High Risk.” Although we’ve never met, Norton has never let us down.

We’ll have to trust that International Virtual Assistant Day is really happening today at the Online International Virtual Assistants Convention. Perhaps that is exactly as it should be.

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