Believe it or not, there are a few reasons to celebrate April 15

THE WOODLANDS, TX – In what is probably the most nationally dreaded day of the year – April 15, aka ‘Tax Day’ – it is easy to view the date with doom and gloom, if not outright animosity. Historically, there might be good reason. Though both Abraham Lincoln was shot and the Titanic hit the iceberg on the evenings of April 14 in their respective years, neither succumbed to their fate until the next day, the 15th. Both the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the 2019 fiery devastation of Notre-Dame Cathedral occurred on the Ides of April as well, certainly making this a most inauspicious day.

However, beyond Tax Day and these historical tragedies, the date also holds hope and promise. On this date in 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the Major League Baseball color barrier, becoming the first Black man to play in the major leagues. McDonald’s was born on April 15 when Ray Kroc opened his first franchise of the restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, in 1955. And a civil rights milestone was observed on April 15, 1960 when the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was organized at Shaw University.

Perhaps to ease the sting of Tax Day, several positive observances are commemorated. April 15 plays home to World Art Day that celebrates awareness of art activities, One Boston Day that is dedicated to celebrating the spirit of Boston through acts of kindness, Purple Up! Day that supports and honors military children, National ASL Day that recognizes the first permanent American School for the Deaf in 1817, and even National Glazed Spiral Ham Day that celebrates the invention of the spiral slicer for hams.

Other, perhaps slightly more mundane, April 15 commemorations include National Rubber Eraser Day that commemorates the 1770 invention of the rubber eraser, National Take a Wild Guess Day that encourages making guesses (put probably not on your tax forms), National Laundry Day, and National That Sucks Day, your special day to complain about negative experiences.

However you celebrate, commemorate, or bemoan April 15, Woodlands Online wishes you a good one with the hope of a hefty tax return.