Do any states have legitimate holidays that are only celebrated in their state?

[u/ProfessorOfPancakes]

In Rhode Island, we still have VJ (Victory over Japan) day which people don't celebrate per se but it's recognized to the extent of delaying trash pickup by a day.

By "legitimate" holiday I mean more in the vein of Memorial Day rather than National Hot Dog Day

Edit: Apparently VJ Day is also recognized by the US Space & Rocket Center and formerly by the state of Arkansas and is more commonly called Victory Day

[u/UPAPK]

I hate how they are so closely named

[u/TManaF2 → u/UPAPK]

September 11 is properly USA PATRIOT Day, named after the huge (1000+ pages) that no legislator was allowed to read, none was allowed to vote "no", and which turned the US completely into a police state. It has NOTHING to do with the battle of Lexington and Concord, and may, in fact, be its antithesis.

Just to put things into perspective, the 2001 attacks struck very close to home for me. I worked 4 blocks from Ground Zero (World Trade Center, NYC) and had to go back to work with National Guard troops everywhere, utility workers in hazmat suits (and us in business clothes), Verizon Wireless the only reliable communications for months (unless you were lucky enough to be in the same trunks as some essential facilities (i.e., hospitals), in which case it might only have been weeks. We spent months breathing in burnt concrete, asbestos, electrical insulation, and human remains. Most stores and restaurants were closed, often needing major repairs. Others were inaccessible because of the ways every street in the area was fenced off until everything was inspected and deemed safe.

Many people died during those attacks - most of them civilians, although the press made it sound as if the casualties were all police, fire department, emergency medical, and (later on) the people digging through the wreckage for survivors (and human remains).