We’ve all pretty much accepted that St. Patrick’s day is a new American holiday, regardless of the amount of Irish whiskey blood pumping through your veins. Around the country, we observe this day by drinking beer and wearing sparkly green pants and shamrock sunglasses.
What do we do to observe non-religious holidays? President’s Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Veteran’s Day, for example…we wear the red, white and blue, buy home appliances and cars on
sale, and get a day off from work. How much emphasis is placed on the actual historical reasoning for these days? At this point, not a whole lot. Probably about as much as for St. Patrick’s day.
How would you create a local government holiday? Not a county fair or local observance of a larger national holiday, but a real local government day? Who or what would you celebrate or observe? How would you do it? How could you involve all segments of the community?
What kind of engagement could you generate with a DIY government holiday?
(PS – Perhaps an entire month long celebration of county government? Hm?)
I would probably do something recognizing local leaders for their community-building initiatives, and the celebration would be doing some sort of volunteer work for the community. Maybe host some sort of block-party event recognizing them then afterwards have a downtown cleanup.