On September 12, 1992, the good people at First State Bank, Denton, TX buried a time capsule with the hopes that we would be responsible enough to open it twenty years later. Even though it's been engraved in brass on the sidewalk of the southeast corner of our square, a corner that many of us pass by multiple times a day, coupled with the fact that we had twenty years (7305 days with leap years) to prepared for this day, somehow we failed to follow these simple directions and September 12th came and went, time capsule unopened.

Instead, several Dentonites gathered en masse at the site of the capsule to honor “The Day We Failed to Open the Capsule” at 12:01AM. They spoke from the heart about the capsule and it's symbolic meaning and shared many stories. This seems to speak volumes about Denton as a community. What it says, however, we're not yet sure. Should we be upset at our inability to make sure someone digs/opens up a box on a specific day or be happy that we were able to easily turn a negative into a positive? Do we need to point a finger at any one person or organization that should have been at the ready for this time capsule? Should we be upset with Wells Fargo for not being aware of what’s outside their doors? Do we shun the former employees of First State Bank? And while having a party to celebrate a day we screwed something up is very, very Denton, is it also hanging our bad report card on the refrigerator? If so, why should we care?

Before the party was planned, several concerned citizens had made plans on social media to bring industrial tools to the site to ensure that the capsule was for sure exhumed. Plans never came to fruition, however, and once word of the party started to spread, the excitement of celebrating our forgetfulness overcame our unfocused anger.

District 1 city councilman, Kevin Roden, has plans to get the time capsule on the list of historical landmarks in town. A list on which it would trump the current youngest item by a good measure. If that goes through the “The Day We Failed to Open the Capsule” will be sure to be an annual event (although it will arguably stay at cult status) at which much alcohol is consumed. So we posit this to you, dear readers, should we be ashamed at our lack of ability to be prepared for a simple event or joyful about our ability to turn an unfortunate event into an annual party? Tell us in the comments!

Below is a video from Kevin Roden's Youtube account of the event. He also has a great post with his thoughts that you can find here.