Father’s Day is just around the corner, and some may be wondering how the day honoring dads and father figures started and why it’s celebrated.
Answers to those questions can be traced back to Washington state.
Here’s how a Spokane woman started the holiday for dads and what you should know about Father’s Day this year.
What day is Father’s Day 2025?
Father’s Day is June 15, 2025.
Father’s Day is celebrated annually on the third Sunday of June, according to
Time and Date
.
What does Father’s Day celebrate?
Father’s Day comes after Mother’s Day in the U.S., and the two holidays share a common purpose: honoring parents.
Father’s Day celebrates dads and other father figures and caregivers who take on the responsibilities of raising children, according to the
Encyclopedia Britannica
.
The holiday also recognizes the societal opportunities fathers have to be good examples for others, according to
National Day Calendar
.
Where did Father’s Day start?
West Virginia has a claim to the start of Father’s Day. A church in Fairmont held the “inaugural Father’s Day celebration” on July 5, 1908,
WV News reported
. The day commemorating fathers was inspired by the loss of more than 360 men in a mining disaster in December 1907.
But while
History.com notes
that this was the “nation’s first event explicitly in honor of fathers,” it was a one-off event and not the beginning of an annual tradition.
Credit for the holiday, as it’s known in the U.S. today, is “generally given” to Sonora Smart Do
dd of Spokane, Washington,
Britannica explains
. Dodd’s father was a Civil War veteran who raised her and her siblings following their mother’s death in childbirth.
Dodd came up with the idea for the holiday in 1909 while taking in a sermon on Mother’s Day, which was gaining momentum as a holiday at the time, according to the encyclopedia.
“Sonora, a prominent member of the Spokane community, took the idea of Father’s Day to the local YMCA,” the tourism website
Visit Spokane states
. “The Spokane YMCA, along with the Ministerial Alliance, endorsed Dodd’s idea and helped spread the word by celebrating the first Father’s Day in 1910.”
The day became a national holiday in 1972 when President Richard Nixon issued a proclamation cementing Father’s Day as a national holiday.
“This is fitting and good,” the
proclamation states
, according to the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “Let each American make this Father’s Day an occasion for renewal of the love and gratitude we bear to our fathers, increasing and enduring through all the years.”
The Dodd House in Spokane was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010, according to the
National Park Service
.
How is Father’s Day commemorated?
Father’s Day is celebrated in multiple ways. Some people show their appreciation with gifts or
a special meal
. Others reserve time to share in a favorite
hobby or recreational activity
with the dads and father figures in their lives. A
phone call
may also be among the most appreciated gestures on the day for dads.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun:
When is Father’s Day 2025? Here’s how a Washington woman started the annual holiday
