We all know about Alaska Day and Seward’s Day as our state holidays, but what about the days that don’t count as a holiday, yet are still celebrated officially in our state?

There are many I could have chosen, but I’ve decided to only write about the ones that interested me the most, so: what is Lights On Afterschool Day? It celebrated its 23rd annual on October 20th this year; supposed to be a nationwide event to commemorate after-school activities and their importance for children, it is the only event to do so. There are programs in Alaska that celebrate this event, and this year the celebration included receiving a “Lights On Activity Box” that included materials for 25 students to create a light-up greeting card, and various other items. Furthermore, on October 28th, there was a cobweb carnival open house hosted by the Anchorage Parks and Recreation Department with activities for little kids to entertain themselves with.

Alaska’s Lemonade Day is a statewide event that commemorates the next generation of entrepreneurs by helping them in their lemonade stands, and by assisting with selling or buying lemonade. There is a program that teaches children how to do so, and in 2019, $480,750 was earned in total from all of the children who participated in the event. Furthermore, the organization that usually runs the event, Lemonade Day!, operates within 90 communities in 3 different countries. It was celebrated this year on June 26th.

Arbor Day is for the things that trees do for us, and the importance of trees in Alaska and everywhere else in the world that celebrates Arbor Day. They’ve recently celebrated 50 years of tree planting, and the Arbor Day Foundation has done various forestry work, and their job is to educate more people about the importance of forests, along with planting trees and supporting communities. It was celebrated on May 16th.

The National Day of Prayer happens on the first Thursday of May (which, this year, was May 5), and has been held each year since 1952, when Congress decided to create an annual day of prayer. This event is to recognize the importance of prayer, and how everybody prays in their own, separate ways; surprisingly, since 1775 (when the first continental congress called for a day of prayer), there have been 1,526 state and federal calls for this day. There aren’t any set events that happen on this day, except praying for the well-being of everybody and strengthening your own personal faith.

As I mentioned before, there are many other days that I could’ve mentioned, but instead, I chose a few that interested me by title alone, but there are around more than 40 days in total that Alaska celebrates.