Oddball Almanac

Television viewers who tuned into ABC's new talk show AM America recently learned from Co-Host Stephanie Edwards that it just happened to be Millard Fillmore's birthday. On his NBC show, Johnny Carson from time to time reminds his audience that it is, say, Patrick Henry's birthday or Lily of the Valley Day in Luxembourg.

Much of this calendar esoterica can be found in Chase's Calendar of Annual Events, an oddball almanac that lists 2,300 days and events around the world. Published by William Chase, 52, of Flint, Mich., the 68-page booklet includes celebrations like Whoop-Up Days in Alberta, Canada, the Bratwurst Festival in Bucyrus, Ohio, or the Festival of the Hungry Ghosts in Singapore.

Many of the nearly 15,000 subscribers, who pay $5 per copy, are comedians, writers and broadcasters seeking to enliven their routines or stories. Even the White House has a copy, and staffers sometimes phone Chase to confirm a date. Once White House aides went so far as to track Chase down at his sick father's bedside in Florida to check on the date of a German historical event; they were planning a celebration to honor a visiting dignitary.

Chase first put together his calendar 18 years ago while working as a librarian at the Flint Journal. The idea was inspired by the many calls he received from reporters "looking for brighteners." Chase began hunting for mention of new events in newspaper clippings and verifying traditional ones by getting in touch with trade associations and other sponsoring groups. He then used his own small publishing concern, Apple Tree Press, to turn out the Calendar.

Radish Feast. Today Chase is bombarded with announcements from obscure trade groups and societies anxious to list events along the lines of the Old Fiddler's Reunion, the Muzzle Loaders festival, or the Feast of the Radishes. Occasionally he runs into troublesome sources like Cartoonist Al Capp, who insists that " 'Sadie Hawkins Day' comes whenever I say it comes in November." Because of Capp's unpredictability, Chase has had to drop the day from his publication. He also has problems with the promoters of National Procrastination Week. Their listing routinely arrives a week or so after his deadline.

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