Back to school (marketing) which is unusual in that it starts its school year in spring, the back to school sales are traditionally held in late March. In Canada and the United States, back to school shopping is associated with Labor Day, which falls on the first Monday of September. While Labor Day is a widely-observed holiday, it has no official celebration. Labor Day has since become symbolic as the unofficial "end of summer". Most schools and colleges begin their school year around this time, so the holiday has become a back to school shopping tradition. much as Memorial Day and Victoria Day, and
Labor Day such a public celebration, owing to optimum weather and the date's place on the calendar, sitting midway between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving public holidays. Labor Day picnics and other public gatherings frequently featured speeches by prominent labor leaders. In 1909 the American Federation of Labor convention designated the Sunday preceding Labor Day as "Labor Sunday", to be dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement. This secondary date failed to gain significant traction in popular culture. In 1887 Oregon became the first state of the United States to make Labor Day an official public holiday.