Where would be the ideal place to celebrate a leap year? Anthony, of course! The self-proclaimed “Leap Capital of the World”, which borders Texas and New Mexico in the United States, hosts the Worldwide Leap Year Festival during a leap year.
Every leap year the tiny town of Anthony, which has a population of about 4000 people, throws a birthday party for people born on February 29, also known as leap day. The event has grown since its inception in 1988, attracting people from within the United States and overseas. Attendees have been as young as babies celebrating their first birthday to people in their 90s celebrating another leap day birthday. In 1992 a man registered his 104-year-old mother, who was born on a leap day, to attend one of the festivals.
Chaired by the town’s mayor Art Franco, the celebration includes a parade, birthday dinner, hot air balloon lifts and other attractions. This event has become a source of pride for the town, marking it as the leap year capital on the global map.It all started about 20 years ago when local resident Mary Ann Brown, proposed that the Anthony Chamber of Commerce host a festival centered on leap day. Ms Brown and her neighbor Birdie Lewis, both born on a leap day, approached the Chamber of Commerce officials with the idea of a leap year festival and a leap year birthday club for those born on a leap day.
The main purposes behind the proposals were to provide the town with local recognition and to help raise funds for the community. In February 1988 the town’s Chamber of Commerce voted to sponsor Ms Brown’s idea of the festival. The governors of both New Mexico and Texas later declared Anthony the “Leap Year Capital of the World”. Over the years, the event has attracted many people, including locals who come out to watch the parade and travelers from countries such as Germany and Switzerland. The town has come a long way since 1988 when only nine leap year birthday celebrants from neighboring towns in New Mexico and Texas attended the first festival.Membership for the leap year birthday club has grown from zero in 1988 to more than 400 members in 2003. Members who have joined come from countries such as the United States, Canada, England, Germany, Mexico and Norway.
About four million people are estimated to have been born on February 29 and about 200,000 of them live in the United States. About 684 out of one million people have a leap day birthday. Also, the odds of being born on February 29 are roughly one in 1461, although this is based on numerical calculations. Moreover, the frequency of birthrates can vary from month to month and from year to year.
