Where every day's a holiday
Chase's Calendar of Events confirms what you may have suspected: A huge number of events and causes lay claim to special days. Too bad we don't get off work for them.
By RODNEY THRASH
Published May 24, 2005
How could you? Of all days, you forgot that today is . . .
Okay, even this reporter is stumped.
With more than 12,000 special days, weeks and months, lots of people are dumbfounded.
It's all too easy to create a holiday these days. "All you had to do was . . . pick a day," says Palm Harbor's Sheryl Nicholson, a motivational speaker who designated January as International Life Balance Month to stress the importance of time for self, family and friends. "If they called and said, "I want Bubble Gum Day,' they'd probably let you do it."
Nicholson isn't that far off the mark, according to Kathy Keil, the associate editor of Chase's Calendar of Events, the record keeper of day, week and month-long observances.
"We generally accept it, assuming we have space," she says. "We reject things if they are already in the book or if it's tasteless." So who comes up with these observances?
"The majority of them," Keil says, "are sponsored by organizations that are looking to draw more attention to their particular cause."
We talked to some Central Florida residents responsible for the growing number of special days, weeks and months.
Before delving into their stories, back to the original question: What is today? Brother's Day, the second day of National Backyard Games Week and a whole bunch of other random observances you probably don't know about.
Duh.
Noble beast, noteworthy day
Wayne Hepburn stopped counting at 3,600.
"I've got every imaginable elephant thing," the Sarasota picture framer said. Books. Clothing. Figures. Jewelry. Pictures. A holiday.
A holiday?
Because of Hepburn, Sept. 22 has been Elephant Appreciation Day since 1996.
"I just love elephants," he said.
The love affair began in 1960. Perhaps it was his birthday, Father's Day or Christmas. Hepburn, 67, isn't sure anymore. But his daughter, Lisa, then 8, gave him an elephant paperweight. For some reason, one that Hepburn can't explain, he liked it.
He said he soon found himself in a checkout line, his second elephant figurine in tow. Hepburn never left the store, it seems.
"It mushroomed and got out of control," Hepburn said. "Now I have 3,600 plus."
He has never promoted Elephant Appreciation Day and doesn't expect people to know much about it. "It's just there," he said. "There are thousands of days being observed. Most people don't care about most of (them)."
So how does one celebrate Elephant Appreciation Day?
In previous years, radio disc jockeys have called Hepburn to clown around.
"But I try to give them serious information," he said. "You know they're endangered, both the Indian and the African elephant. The more people know about them, the more they'll appreciate them."
Some people have taken it seriously. Hepburn said he gets at least two dozen calls or letters every fall. Some stores have even run discounts on elephant figurines to observe the day.
"They're a noble beast," said Hepburn, who has also created a Web site, himandus.net (click on "The Elephanteria and Elephant Store"). "They have a social life, they take care of their families, they don't injure or hurt any other creature unless they are attacked."
Hepburn said he already has his next holiday in mind.
"I tell you something that needs a day: Mute Button Appreciation Day," he said. "Whoever invented the mute button did a wonderful service for TV viewers."
Grumpiness takes a holiday
Janice Hathy admitted it. Once, she participated in a drive-by. Smile, that is.
"I figured that was better than drive-by shootings," Hathy, 57, said.
For the last three years, usually the last Wednesday in May, the former teacher turned stress-management consultant has used humorous techniques to make people smile.
For a long time, she didn't know how.
Hathy, who lives in Venice, is bipolar. She was diagnosed in 1991, when she was 43, though she suspects she had the disorder long before then.
"I just thought something was wrong with me," Hathy said. "It's like when you have spark plugs and they're not firing correctly, your car doesn't work right."
Still, she said, she felt she was supposed to be doing something to make a difference. One day, not long after she was laid off from a radio station in Michigan, the idea of the Great American Grump Out "just kind of" came to her. The first one was held in 2002 in Kalamazoo, Mich., where she lived before moving to Venice to be closer to her parents. Chase's "discovered me," not the other way around, she said.
There will be no drive-bys during Wednesday's Grump Out. But there will be a new attraction: whammit dolls.
"Instead of hitting other people, they can hit the doll and wham it," she said.
"It thrills me because for one day, I've helped people lighten up."
A holiday for getaways
Tina Czarnota couldn't believe it.
She was doing research for two of her books, mysteries that take place at a bed and breakfast. She was surprised to learn how many people had never been to one.
"I thought, "Well, you'd better do something about that,' " said Czarnota, the author of Country Inn, Dead & Breakfast and Deadwaiters.
She recalled reading a blurb in her publishing company's monthly newsletter about another writer who created a day based on the subject of a book. Czarnota thought she should do the same.
Every first Sunday in October since 2003, she has hosted Country Inn, Bed & Breakfast Day in St. Petersburg to pay respect to the innkeepers and their properties.
"They're a vacation in themselves," Czarnota said. "You wake up, smell coffee wafting in. To me, it's an escape."
Though Czarnota, 54, lives in Boca Raton, she chose St. Petersburg as the host city for the annual event. It's so charming, she said. She has stopped in Pinellas County often on trips to visit friends in Spring Hill.
This year, Bayboro House will be the host site for the day.
A time out to retrench
Orlando businessman, author and radio host Kevin McCarthy wasn't, as he put it, "trying to create a Hallmark card event."
But he didn't want to relegate his observance to one day, either. McCarthy, the chief executive officer of On-Purpose Partners, a Winter Park business consulting and communications firm, wanted a month. January, to be exact.
"It's meant to be a lifestyle, not an event in one person's life," said McCarthy, the brainchild behind National Be On-Purpose Month. "Here's 30 days where people can look at who they are and what they're about."
But doesn't the sheer volume of special days dilute their significance?
Not at all, McCarthy said.
"If you think of how many hundreds of millions of people there are in the United States and how many unique points of view and diverse interests we have, it doesn't dilute the impact at all," he said. "It has just the opposite effect.
"It gives people with similar interests a place to gather."
Rodney Thrash can be reached at 727 893-8352 or rthrash@sptimes.com
REASONS TO CELEBRATE
Great American Grump Out, Venice. Wednesday. Go 24 hours without being grumpy or crabby. Web site: www.smilemania.com
Elephant Appreciation Day, Sarasota. Sept. 22. Celebrate the Earth's largest land animal. Web site: www.himandus.net/elephanteria
Country Inn, Bed & Breakfast Day, St. Petersburg. Oct. 2. The world of inns and bed & breakfasts. Web site: www.tinaczarnota.com
International Life Balance Month, Palm Harbor. Jan. 1-31. Making better strategic decisions yearlong to get one's life in balance. Web site: www.sheryl.com
National Be On-Purpose Month, Winter Park. Jan 1-31. Start the new year right by putting their good intentions into action, personally and professionally. Web site: www.on-purpose.com
-- Source: Chase's 2005 Calendar of Events