Father’s Day in Visalia is shaping up to be more than brunch reservations and backyard barbecues. Whether you’re taking Dad out to one of the city’s favorite restaurants or planning a night out downtown, this year’s celebration even comes with a touch of magic.
That’s thanks to a local Father’s Day deal offering $30 all‑in tickets to Justin Willman’s “One for the Ages” show at the Visalia Fox Theatre — available with code DADJOKE through June 22.
And this Father’s Day lands on a rare date. The holiday shares the calendar with the summer solstice, the longest day of the year — a pairing that won’t happen again until 2037, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Beyond this unusual overlap, here’s what to know about Father’s Day and how it became a nationally recognized celebration of dads.
When is Father’s Day?
This year, Father’s Day will be celebrated on Sunday, June 21.
Which came first: Mother’s Day or Father’s Day?
Mother’s Day came before Father’s Day and was officially recognized in 1914, when “President Woodrow Wilson announced the second Sunday in May would become a holiday in honor of ‘that tender, gentle army, the mothers of America,’” according to History.com.
In the early 1990s, men associated the day of tribute with women “and found the idea of a day for men too effeminate to their liking,” the Old Farmer’s Almanac said.
Long road to officially recognizing Father’s Day
“The first known Father’s Day service occurred in Fairmont, West Virginia, on July 5, 1908, after hundreds of men died in the worst mining accident in U.S. history,” according to the Almanac.
Grace Golden Clayton, the daughter of a minister, proposed a day to honor fathers, especially those who had died, the Almanac said. The event, though, did not become an annual tradition, nor was it known widely outside the local community.
Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, inspired by the idea of Mother’s Day, wanted to create a day to recognize fathers, according to the Almanac. Smart Dodd’s own father raised her and her five brothers after her mother died giving birth in 1898.
Within months, Smart Dodd “had convinced the Spokane Ministerial Association and the YMCA to set aside a Sunday in June to celebrate fathers,” the Almanac said. Ministers chose the third Sunday in June, and the first Father’s Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910.
“The widely publicized events in Spokane struck a chord that reached all the way to Washington, D.C., and Sonora’s celebration put the idea on the path to becoming a national holiday,” the Almanac says. “However, the holiday did not catch on right away, perhaps due to the perceived parallels with Mother’s Day.”
Though a bill to create Father’s Day was introduced in Congress in 1913, it did not pass, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.
Nearly 50 years later, President Lyndon Johnson signed an executive order in 1966 for Father’s Day to be celebrated on the third Sunday in June, the Almanac says. In 1972, Congress passed an act that made Father’s Day a national holiday.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Why Father’s Day 2026 is extra special: It shares a date with the solstice
Reporting by Daniella Segura, USA TODAY NETWORK / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Daniella Segura, USA TODAY NETWORK | USA TODAY Network
