Ode to Black Friday: Such tradition, so many memories

I made an interesting discovery. I was trying to figure out which holiday I have the most memories of.

Halloween works when you are a kid. The Fourth of July has its moments if you are in a parade every year. The day you go to the State Fair every year could be considered a holiday if you go every year, as every year is different. Christmas is an interesting holiday; some I remember quite clearly (receiving a special present, celebrating the holiday in a different place), but others are just lumped together in memory. The same goes for Thanksgiving.

Then there is Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, considered the biggest shopping day of the year, when stores make a big pitch for sales.

Why is it memorable?

When I was a kid, the Signal Hills shopping center in West St. Paul had a big party on Black Friday Night. It was almost a community gathering filled with music and games. It ended when the mall became a strip center.

There is also the tradition of waking up early to get that important on-sale item. Now, of course, almost every store opens on Thanksgiving evening or Black Friday Eve, but there is still that tradition of shopping at nontraditional shopping hours.

And there is the relief that no one complains about the annoying commercialization of the holiday the way they do with Christmas. Black Friday is all about commercialism.

Yeah, Christmas is about love. Thanksgiving is about thanks. Memorial Day is about remembrance. And all are important holidays in their own right — more important than Black Friday.

But Black Friday is about perseverance and overcoming obstacles, and is a community day — when do you remember seeing more people engaged in a common pursuit?

In the end, Black Friday deserves its due.