Flag Day (United States) holiday. William T. Kerr, a native of Pittsburgh and later a resident of Yeadon, Pennsylvania, founded the American Flag Day Association of Western Pennsylvania in 1888, and became the national chairman of the American Flag Day Association one year later, serving as such for fifty years. He attended President Harry S. Truman's 1949 signing of the Act of Congress that formally established the observance. In 1889, the principal of a free kindergarten, George Bolch, celebrated the Revolution and celebrated Flag Day, as well. In 1893, Elizabeth Duane Gillespie, a descendant of Benjamin Franklin and the president of the Colonial Dames
State Patty's Day to take advantage of the holiday. In subsequent years State Patty's Day has been scheduled for the weekend after THON, giving the event a standardized date. As of 2014, it has persisted as an annual event, attracting more tourism to downtown State College than Saint Patrick's Day itself. State Patty's Day made its debut in early 2007 after a handful of students realized that the school's spring break would conflict with St. Patrick's Day. Utilizing Facebook, they created a group entitled "The Official Group to Move St. Patrick's Day." Their hope was to unify the student body in early celebration.