Want a national day? Check a website in North Dakota

To most Americans, July 4 is Independence Day. But on Marlo Anderson’s calendar, it’s also Caesar Salad Day and Barbecued Spareribs Day.

Anderson is the mastermind of the National Day Calendar, an online compendium of pseudo-holidays that has become a resource for TV and radio stations looking to add a little levity to their broadcasts, among others.

The 52-year-old co-owner of a VHS digitizing company in North Dakota started the calendar in 2013 and soon realized the site could also be a way for people to declare their own special days. So last year, he started charging $1,500 to $4,000 for “national day” proclamations.

“People certainly don’t need to use us,” he said. “It’s just we really give it a jump start.”

Marketing experts give Anderson credit for seizing on the desire by companies and groups for another way to promote themselves, though they question the effectiveness of some of the resulting campaigns. It’s not the only reason for celebration, but food seems to be a common subject for special days.

Already, the National Day Calendar says it has given its blessing to more than 30 made-up holidays. A crouton maker paid for National Crouton Day (May 13), a seafood restaurant submitted National Fried Clam Day (July 3) and a craft beer maker came up with National Refreshment Day (fourth Thursday in July).

Anderson’s venture, which he said brings in roughly $50,000 a year, underscores the free-for-all nature of such days.

In 1870, Congress established the first four federal holidays with New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since then, only six more annual federal holidays have been added, with the most recent being Martin Luther King Jr. day in 1983. But even the authority of those holidays is limited; although they’re broadly observed, they’re technically only legally applicable to federal employees.

A few dozen other dates are also recognized in the U.S. code, including Mother’s Day, National School Lunch Week and American Heart Month.

Mayors, presidents and other lawmakers can declare days honoring individuals and causes too, although those usually aren’t widely observed.

“It seems like hokum to me, but more power to him,” Robert Passikoff, president of Key Brands, a consulting firm, said of Anderson’s company. “Ask him if they have a P.T. Barnum day, and see if they’re celebrating a sucker born every minute.”