WYOMING HOLIDAYS
Schools and State Offices Closed
New Year’s Day
*Martin Luther King, Jr., Wyoming Equality Day: third Monday in January (set by legislative act in 1990)
*Washington’s and Lincoln’s Birthday: observed the third Monday in February
Memorial Day: the last Monday in May
Independence Day
Labor Day: the first Monday in September
*Veterans Day: November 11
Thanksgiving Day: fourth Thursday in November
Christmas Day
Other Days: “Any date appointed or declared by the president of the United States as an occasion of national mourning, rejoicing or observance of national emergency,” upon declaration by the governor.
*Schools remain open unless the local school board orders.
Other Significant Holidays
Arbor Day: last Monday in April (requires the state forester to plant a tree on state grounds in a simple ceremony, act originally passed in 1888)
Columbus Day: the second Monday in October (until 1990, it was a state holiday for state employees, but was eliminated when Martin Luther King, Jr., Wyoming Equality Day was designated an official state holiday)
Statehood Day: July 10. Wyoming was admitted to statehood July 10, 1890.
Native American Day: third Friday in September (set by legislative act in 1987)
Nellie Tayloe Ross’ Birthday: Nov. 29 (set by legislative act in 1978, the day commemorates the birth of the first woman governor in the United States who was elected Wyoming’s chief executive in 1924)
Wyoming Day: Dec. 10 (commemorates the signing of woman suffrage act in 1869 by Gov. John A. Campbell, the first such enactment in the world. The legislature designated the observance in 1935)
“Day of Memorial”: In 1990, Gov. Mike Sullivan designated March 11 of that year to honor the memory of the Rev. James Reeb, a former Casper resident who was murdered 25 years earlier following a civil rights march in Selma, Alabama. He was 38. The day after Reeb’s death, President Lyndon Johnson proposed the Voting Rights Act as a result of what had happened to Reeb.
28 Events That Happened in Wyoming on the 4th of July
1. Missionary Marcus Whitman led patriotic prayer service at South Pass en route to Oregon—the first recorded Fourth of July observance in Wyoming (1835)
2. 1st official meeting of Masonic Lodge in Wyoming, Independence Rock (1862)
3. The army abandoned Fort Halleck, Carbon County (1866)
4. Cheyenne named by Gen. Grenville Dodge (1867)
5. First recorded holiday baseball games in Wyoming, South Pass v. Atlantic City; “Wyoming Club” of Fort Sanders beat the Laramie City team 43-26 (1870)
6. Bates Battle fought near the Big Horn Mountains between 268 soldiers and Shoshones against about 400 Arapahoes and allies (1874)
7. First bicycle in Laramie demonstrated to the curious public (1876)
8. General George Crook and staff, hiking in the Big Horns, awoke to find frost covering the ground and ice formed on standing water (1876)
9. Six-horse stagecoach robbed one mile inside the north border of Yellowstone on the way to Mammoth (1887)
10. English novelist Rudyard Kipling rode into Yellowstone Park in a stagecoach (1888)
11. Converse County rodeo rider “Jerky Bill” rode the meanest bronc in the area to a standstill, Glenrock (1888)
12. First climb made of Devils Tower, witnessed by 800 people at a picnic below (1893)
13. First climb made of Devils Tower by a woman, Mrs. William Rogers (1895)
14. Duncan Hines, a Wells Fargo agent (later, a renowned food critic) ate what he described as “most memorable meal” at Harry Hynds’ cafe in Cheyenne (1899)
15. First automobile made its appearance in Lusk. The driver sold rides for 25 cents. “The chuck-chuck got away with a large and juicy bundle of filthy lucre,” the Lusk Herald reported (1906)
16. The Comet, the first steamboat to operate on the Green River, launched at Green River (1908)
17. The first airplane flight in Wyoming, Gillette (1911)
18. Buffalo Bill statue by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney dedicated in a ceremony, Cody (1924)
19. 6,000 people heard performance by Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Wagnerian contralto, Wyoming State Fairgrounds, Douglas (1924)
20. A flood near Edgerton washed out five houses at “Canadian camp” as well as a highway bridge and a railroad bridge (1926)
21. A pageant of historic events to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Laramie was performed in the field owned by Maggie Couglin, just north of town. Thousands watched, many from cars parked on the brow of the hill just beyond W hill (1928)
22. Oregon Trail Centennial celebrated at Independence Rock (1930)
23. Artist Thomas Hart Benton attended Saratoga rodeo with student Glen Rounds and told organizers he was Denver Post reporter so he could get close to the action. He later painted scenes of the rodeo (1930)
24. Lost Springs, the nation’s smallest town designated a “Bicentennial Community,” celebrated the Fourth and a British Broadcasting Company film crew recorded the event (1976)
25. Harry Jackson’s statue of Sacajawea unveiled, Cody (1980)
26. One-third of an inch of snow fell at Yellowstone Lake (1983)
27. Dedication held of reconstruction of “Old Fort Bridger” (1987)
28. Snow fell in Laramie, accumulations in nearby mountains (1993)
Features about various Wyomimg holiday celebrations will appear in this space seasonally from time to time.