It’s common knowledge that August is the only month without any “real holidays.” But this list of observances prove…that common knowledge is often correct.
August 6: Wiggle Your Toes Day
This is the day to free your feet from the confines of shoes and let those little piggies out for the world to see. (Provided you’ve cleaned them and cut the nails, of course.
August 7: National Lighthouse Day
Did you car trips as a kid consist of driving up and down the coast while your parents visited boring lighthouse after boring lighthouse? Well, those lighthouses were once a very important lifesaving technology when the world had a more maritime economy. On August 7, 1789, Congress federalized the building and operation of lighthouses and this holiday commemorates all the lives not lost at sea.
August 9: Book Lovers Day
Now here’s one that Uncle John can get behind.
August 11: Presidential Joke Day
It’s not so much a day for jokes about presidents, so much as it is a day to commemorate when a U.S. president made a very famous joke. On August 11, 1984, President Ronald Reagan was preparing for his weekly radio address with what he thought was a sound check. He didn’t realize he was actually broadcasting live when he quipped, “My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.”
August 16: National Tell a Joke Day
Everyday is National Tell a Joke Day when you work at the Bathroom Readers’ Institute (or if you’re Ronald Reagan), but this is the day you absolutely must tell a joke. Here’s an old favorite: A man places a frozen single-serving pizza and a single can of soda on the conveyor belt at a grocery store checkout. “Single, huh?” the cashier asks the man. “How did you know?” the man responds. “Oh, it’s because you’re so ugly.”
August 30: Frankenstein Day
August 30, 1797 is the birthday of author Mary Wollenstonecraft Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein in 1818, when she was just 21 years old. Today’s a great day to read Shelley’s genre-creating novel, watch one of the many Frankenstein movies, or just rock out to this: