If you follow any government-related Twitter accounts (guilty), you’ve probably seen quite a few tweets celebrating National Pennsylvania Day.
You may be wondering: What exactly is National Pennsylvania Day — and who proclaimed it into existence?
The answer comes from North Dakota. Really.
For a few thousand bucks, N.D.-based National Day Calendar will issue proclamations to celebrate “special days” or a “unique product” like fried clams or calzone. The company says it only adds 30 new days a year out of 20,000 submissions and, at the moment, is facing a “substantial backlog.” Corporate packages for accepted submissions run from $20,000 to $100,000.
You may now be wondering if the fake holiday business is lucrative. Apparently, very! The company’s founder, Marlo Anderson, says he is branching out into marketing and even the movie biz:
The film, “National Daze,” will be based on some of Anderson’s adventures with National Day Calendar. The film will star Kate McKinnon as a newspaper journalist trying to make a name for herself. She’s assigned a story about National Day Calendar and begins living out each of these unofficial national holidays over the course of a year.
Other stars involved will include Dan Aykroyd, and Bruno Mars has been signed on for work on the soundtrack, according to Anderson, who said Mandan will see a starring role, as it is planned to shoot a portion of the film during the Independence Day Parade this summer.
Fear not, taxpayers of Pennsylvania.
The commonwealth didn’t ask for the holiday. National Day Calendar began independently honoring states last year after the Fourth of July, according to a representative:
Each week following the week of Independence Day 2017, National Day Calendar will be announcing a National Day in honor of each state in the order they entered the union. We start with Delaware on July 13 and will complete the celebrations with Hawaii on July 5, 2018, allowing for some time off for the holidays.
