I noticed in the news that I had missed an event over the weekend. I’m wondering if you missed it too. The event was on Saturday. It was World Naked Gardening Day. I learned that this event is generally held the first Saturday of May.

Evidently, this event was started in 2005. So this means I’ve been missing it for 20 years and didn’t even know it. Why hasn’t anyone told me about this? As far as I could tell from my comings and goings around Sanpete, I wasn’t the only one missing out.

Of course, I didn’t make a point of going into the backyards of Sanpeters. I might have gotten surprised. Or, I might have surprised some liberated gardeners.

When I found out about this naked gardening day thing, it brought to mind the more well known No Pants Day. Certainly you’ve heard of that. In fact, some years ago, I made mention of that “holiday” here in this space.

I was curious about when No Pants Day is held so I checked it out. Lo and behold, the day for this event is the first Friday of May. So, you can imagine my disappointment at missing both of these events in one single weekend of unawareness.

I have to admit that sometimes I’m confused as I go through life on a day to day basis. Not much surprises me anymore, but there are things which make me say, “Huh?”

I suppose that No Pants Day and other such events fall into this category. I looked back and didn’t see coverage (of these “non-coverage” days) in the Utah Media — not even The Salt Lake Tribune.

The weird thing is that it was the Deseret News that reported on No Pants Day the last time my attention was drawn to the event.

The D’News has a reputation for being a pretty conservative newspaper. It’s no secret that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owns it.

Regardless of that, I believe I’ve noticed that the paper tries to report the news on balance without too much bias. I think attempts are made to be fully engaged in newsworthy events and issues regardless of what they are.

In that previous report, a couple of pictures caught my eye as I looked at the paper. One was of a grown man standing in his underwear (some version of “under-roos” it looked like) as he finished kicking off his jeans. He was on a TRAX train in Salt Lake City.

The other picture showed a man and a woman standing on the train station platform, both bare-legged. The pictures and the short story covered (or uncovered) No Pants Day.

The information given explained that the day is just what it says it is – a day to go without pants. Underpants yes – trousers, no. I gather that one of the main venues for this event is meant to be public transportation. In Salt Lake City, some of the TRAX train riders participated.

Reading the brief (no pun intended, or maybe it is) news story gave me no clue as to what the purpose was for the pantless day. Even the last sentence, which begins with the brief (sorry) hope that at last, the point will be given, left me scratching my head.

The last sentence: “The aim is to create different reasons for the lack of pants and to pretend each person is acting alone.” Huh?

Back then, I happened to see a short piece on the TV news about the no-pants day. I got more visuals of what it looked like. Imagine people fully dressed minus pants. (Or maybe you prefer not to imagine that) But there was no meaningful explanation of what the goal was for the occasion.

Thank goodness for the internet. My curiosity and my natural urge to find order in a confusing world drove me to do a Google search. I typed in “No Pants Day.”

As I researched, I gained knowledge. Funny how that works. I got a better idea of what the point was for No Pants Day. The first explanation seemed to clear things up for me. “No Pants Day is … a day dedicated to the joy inherent in not wearing pants!” What could be more simple and logical?

There were some guidelines. “Shorts, dresses, kilts, and other pants substitutes don’t count as “not wearing pants.” There were some encouragements: “Enjoy the breeze and quit taking life seriously for a day!”

The organizer, Capital Improv, – at least in New York City, said their goal is to “Bring moments of random happiness and confusion to as many people as possible.” Well, they succeeded with half of their goal with me – the confusion half.

I’m wondering about getting Sanpete onboard with this celebration next time it rolls around. It could work here – couldn’t it? I have to say that I’m not too wild about the timing of the day. I think June or July would get more participation.

And granted, we don’t have much public transportation here other than school buses, senior citizen buses and Snow College’s bus that runs from main campus to west campus.

Wait a second – yes! I have an idea forming. The senior citizens – that just might be the place to get the ball rolling for Sanpete’s “No Pants Day.” It’s kind of a struggle for some of those folks (me) to get their pants on each day anyway. Maybe this could be a weekly event.

Wait another second. In my mind’s eye, I’m thinking that perhaps college students might be the better place to start.

Wait — I’m having second thoughts about all of this. Until further notice, everyone in Sanpete keep your pants on. — Merrill

P.S. Another thought. We’re all familiar with the signs in stores: “No shirt, no shoes, no service.” I’m wondering if signs are being made for use on No Pants Day: “No pants, no problem”