Marlo Anderson, founder of NationalDayCalendar.com, helps highlight non-traditional holidays all across America and beyond. Submitted photo

If you’re tired of celebrating the typical holidays, there are plenty of other national days to look forward to in 2017.

For example, you could celebrate “National Hangover Day” or “National Bloody Mary Day” today for the first of the year. Or, in a few days, you could throw a party for “National Drinking Straw Day” on Jan. 3, followed by “National Spaghetti Day” on Jan. 4.

Visiting www.national daycalendar.com provides guests with a variety of occasions and observations to celebrate, from the mundane to the serious that are outside the generally accepted holiday schedule. Many officials in the entertainment and news industry including Ellen, Fox and Friends and Jimmy Kimmel have followed the website for its interesting, non-traditional holidays.

However, the website came to be completely by chance.

Marlo Anderson, website founder, said he began the site after attempting to research the origins of National Popcorn Day. After some research, he said he was astounded that there wasn’t anything available. In response, Anderson founded the National Day Calendar website and a trend was born.  The website launched on Jan. 19, 2013, and has become a hit over the years. The website is based out of Mandan, North Dakota.

“It was more a hobby than anything,” he said.

However, it grew very quickly. By the end of January, 1,000 people had visited the site, and at the end of July, 100,000 people had visited. Then media personalities began following the site, Anderson said.

“It started because of the story we provided,” he said. “We were kind of a national authority on national days. But we fought it for a long time, I’ll tell you.”

Anderson said initially it was a project that was on the side, but as the popularity of the website grew, the amount of work and time put into it grew as well. There came a time when Anderson said a decision had to be made.

“Last August, we decided we either have to turn it into a business or it has to go away,” he said.

Anderson is also the CEO of Zoovio, a company which digitizes video and places them online, and said the national day website had been cutting into his time spent at his work. Finally, the decision was made to make the website into a business as well, complete with a staff to help carry the workload.

“We’re expanding pretty quickly,” he said.

Anderson said the company strives to be as festive as the holidays they promote.

“Our slogan is ‘Celebrate Every Day,’ and we really do try to live that slogan here,” he said. “The biggest thing has been how people have reacted to this. We’re the No. 1 trending thing on social media, and we trended 300 times this year.”

One of the best things about the website is the stories that come in from the public. Anderson said he receives heartwarming stories every day that show the website does have an impact.

“Even if it puts a smile on someone’s face, that’s a big deal if you think about it,” he said.

Anderson said his favorite national day has changed over the years. He began the website because of his interest in National Popcorn Day, but his current favorite is National Astronaut Day, which is one of the new national days the website has declared over the years.

Anderson said they have declared around 100 new national days. Those who wish to register a new national day can do so on the website, however, an organization or company must be involved.

“We get about 18,000 applications a year (for new national days),” he said. “We had to find a way to limit the number of applications, and there is a little bit of a fee involved, so it’s good to have a sponsor.”

For those who would like to keep informed of what national day each day is, Anderson said there are a variety of ways to follow, including visiting the website at www.NationalDayCalendar.com and signing up for the daily email or following them on social media.

Anderson also reminded local “I Love Lucy” fans that “National I Love Lucy Day” falls on Oct. 15.