MONTPELIER – The Vermont Department of Health has set Friday, April 26th, as 2019’s annual “Open Your Windows Day.” Each year the state announces the first day that Vermonters can safely open their windows without fear of a sudden frost or snow flurry, and with temperatures looking to hit the sixties and remain there for a time, officials have finally announced this year’s date.

Open Your Windows Day has been as early as mid-March, and as late as June 11th. This year’s date falls squarely in the center of the most common times for winter to stop threatening to return. The origins of the holiday date back to the early twentieth century, when many Vermonters would open their windows as soon as the temperature hit 55, only to forget to close them and find themselves waking up in a snow drift the next morning.

“Most people don’t remember this, but it was something of a health crisis a hundred years ago,” says Department of Health employee Robin Bloom. “People would just open their windows whenever it got warm, but often the weather would change too quickly for the windows to be closed again and Vermonters were literally getting frostbite in their own homes. Now we know better, and we all wait for the state to announce when it’s safe to air out the winter fumes of our own stenches.”

As always, Vermonters are advised to avoid being outside larger condos and apartment buildings on April 26th, as the collective stink cloud of germs and disease can cause nausea and illness as it passes through on its way to Massachusetts, where it will settle down unnoticed.

Important Dates to Remember:

April 26th: Open Your Windows Day

April 27th: Prescription Drug Take Back Day

May 27th: First Barbecue Day

June 18th: First Day to Wear Shorts

July 4: Independence Day

July 25-August 12: Summer

August 13: Close Your Windows Day