I look forward to what Bubbles has to say about hashtags, Dusty. I've used them for worldwide Play Music on the Porch Day but that's about it. If the two of you talk and think it's a good idea to use a hashtag for International Appalachian Dulcimer Day, we can give it a go.
On Facebook, I added this bit of text to accompany the picture of my little homemade sign:
A day to celebrate the Appalachian Dulcimer-- both its origins and its spread around the world! You choose how to mark the day and, please, feel free to share how you celebrate the day. Play music, write a poem, share a story related to the instrument, create an artwork-- the sky's the limit!
I'm wondering about us starting a hashtag? I don't actually know how they work so if y'all think it's a good idea, I'll add a hashtag.
I'm with Richard at thanking you for your original suggestion which got things rolling, @dusty-turtle! 
In the way of many who have gone before us, I used what I had on-hand to make a little sign.
My apologies for the big photo-- I've tried to re-size it yet don't really know what I'm doing (obviously)!
I'm wanting thoughts on going ahead and putting this picture on my Facebook page.
We aren't an off-shoot of worldwide Play Music on the Porch Day. It's a totally different thing.
International Appalachian Dulcimer Day is its own thing-- just a day set aside to celebrate however you choose and in some small (or large) way, our favorite instrument. (I live in an old coal mine village and everything we do here is on a small scale. 
)
@marg I didn't check the date here or internationally. My thinking was it is not a day which would interfere with anything (unless one were on silent retreat or some similar event) yet, rather, a day to celebrate what many of us do every day-- play mountain dulcimer. 
@marg I was advocating for using "International" because the spread of the fretted dulcimer is across the globe and the membership here at FOTMD reflects this.
This is to be a grassroots celebration on only one day. (This is how I understand it. No committee with officers, a budget, etc. More like a flash mob, maybe? If I'm on the wrong track, somebody can jump in and point the way.) Even if a person just wished to post a special still photo for the day or make an elaborate video or a piece of artwork or anything in-between, assigning a day is a simple way to celebrate the boxes with strings we all love. 
@dusty-turtle, I like it!
Wow, @kevin63, your Clifford Glenn is a beauty!
Friends, I hope I haven't shut-down conversation about an Appalachian Dulcimer day of celebration!
I think of the roots of the Appalachian dulcimer and how folks used the instrument-- at home or church or another community event of some kind. Since we're not near any clubs, jams, gatherings, etc., pretty much all we do with making music here at our house stays home or close to home. Whether there is something "organized" or the event is more of a grassroots/several shoots sort of thing for an International Appalachian Dulcimer Day, I plan to celebrate our dear little instrument on a given day.
It's pretty cool how @dusty-turtle came to raise the idea of a day of celebration!
@steven-stroot Perfectly fine questions!
I plan to let my Facebook friends know a name and day to celebrate ahead of time and invite/encourage any who play Appalachian dulcimer to mark the day some way-- a still photo, a video, an audio, artwork featuring our loved instrument, etc., and just see what happens.
Oh, I understood, @ken-longfield -- many of us who were teenagers long ago understand joking about teenagers.
I'm thinking about making a video for our day of celebration of the Appalachian dulcimer. Springtime will soon be upon us. 
@ken-longfield I know the teenage years can be difficult, at times, for all yet there'll be a lot of fun times, too. Young people give me hope!
Oh, no! Another teenager.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Oh, yes! 
I love cake! 
And I remember when FOTMD was just a baby. 
I think I’m over thinking all of this…lol..maybe I am thinking on a festival mentality and not thinking of just a day to say Hooray for our Dulcimer!
I like your suggestion, Steve, when you wrote, "So we can skip the formal recognition if you all like and just promote the weekend ourselves."
Also, it is still important to me that folks from all over are part of this day of celebration just as folks from all over are part of FOTMD.
I think setting a day tied to Spring equinox would have folks looking at their calendars and planning. Think about Easter, for example.
PS-Our friends in the southern hemisphere would, of course, be celebrating autumnal equinox.
Here in our old coal mining village life moves pretty slow. And being a bit of an old-fashioned girl (now old lady), I love the idea of tying the event to the vernal equinox!
@dusty-turtle I asked. And think what you've presented is splendid!
Though I wasn't born in Appalachia, I have spent most of my adult life in Appalachia. So, I may have an unconscious bias. 
An International Appalachian Dulcimer Day acknowledges both the origin and type of instrument and celebrates its appeal to folks around the globe.
My greatest interest is in worldwide participation in the day from as many Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer as possible.
@dusty-turtle is who got this conversation on a designated dulcimer day started. I'm curious about what are his thoughts now?
It's good to clarify to which instrument we are referring! As far as using geography to specify which instrument we mean, America alone isn't, to my mind, specific. There's North America, Central America, South America-- the Americas.
Loraine Wyman's story is a compelling one! One of the glories of an International/Worldwide/National/whatever Mountain/Appalachian Dulcimer Day is we will never run short of compelling stories to share.
We have members from around the globe here at FOTMD so my thinking goes to an international/worldwide day. And maybe it's because of where I live, my thinking went to a less formal way of establishing a day to celebrate mountain dulcimer-- we pick a date to highlight the Appalachian dulcimer and its spread and the celebration itself makes it 'official'. We can do just like many do with worldwide Play Music on the Porch Day-- folks post videos of the various ways they celebrate the day. Some celebrations are individual, some are group.
I offer my birthday as a good day-- I love mountain dulcimer. 
It seems using Jean Ritchie's birthdate is, simply, a way to choose a date for a broader celebration of the Appalachian dulcimer. To me, the idea being to begin with Jean as a point of departure by which to explore the instrument which took root in the mountains long before she was born, continues to the present, and is played in many countries around the world.
If Jean's birthday were chosen, her beautiful Wintergrace and the wonderful Ritchie family Christmas movie Dave Garraway introduces could be part of the highlights. I also submit that it could be an International/Worldwide Appalachian Dulcimer Day we celebrate-- acknowledging both the spread of the instrument's popularity and the region from which it sprang. Just a couple thoughts.
I get the reasons behind the March and the August suggestions. For me, though, Jean Ritchie's birthday is THE day. She did so much to introduce the mountain dulcimer to populations of people wholly unfamiliar with the instrument.
@mr-woolery Patrick, I liked seeing your videos. I have a fretless instrument so appreciate the learning involved in what it takes to play notes accurately.
Remembering our dear friend Rod.
Hi, Linda! I've not had luck with downloading the file. I hope some knowledgable person can and is able to identify the tune!
