There is a very important holiday coming up. You may or may not know about it, but let me just say, you should. September 19th is, wait for it, International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Yup. Now, I’m a little biased, in that my uncle and his friend are the co-founders, but I have to say, the story of how this came about is a pretty interesting example of how important it is to find the right mega-hub to help you disseminate your message.

Ten years ago, John Baur (”Uncle John” as he’s known to me, “Ol’ Chumbucket” as he’s known to the world) and Mark Summers (”Cap’n Slappy”) were playing racketball. Both are, ummm, perhaps not the most stellar athletes Oregon has ever seen (sorry guys), so the game ended up including a lot of grunting which, naturally, progressed into pirate growls (Arrr!) and finally full-on piratical epithets. Well, they decided it was so much fun that there should be a day when EVERYONE talks like a pirate, and that that day would be September 19th (Mark’s ex-wife’s birthday: a date he could remember, but was no longer using). So, they and a close circle of friends quietly observed Talk Like a Pirate Day for the next several years (when they remembered it). Until 2002.

In 2002, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Dave Barry turned the whole thing around. You can check out their website for the whole story, but suffice it to say, what started as two slightly out of shape yahoos in Albany, OR, swinging rackets and grunting, became International Talk Like a Pirate Day - spawning two books (so far), nationwide appearances, and radio and TV interviews all over the world (Australians LOVE these guys). It’s amazing what finding the right hub with the ear of the right audience can do to take a goofy pasttime shared among friends and turn it into a phenomenon. It’s not just about yelling the loudest. It’s about speaking to the people who are most likely to listen. A valuable lesson learned from a couple of Northwestern pirates.

And in the meanwhile… don’t ye be fergettin’ te mark yer calendarrrrr…

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