Geek Pride Day / Towel Day at Secret Source

While it’s not yet quite as well known as Mother’s day or Earth Day, with the growing number of programmers, designers and other “geeky” professions, each year national geek Pride Day gets a little more popular.

It all started in Spain in 2006 when the Spanish blogger Germán Martínez organised the first celebration culminating in a 300 person live human pacman! May 25th was chosen as it’s the day Star Wars premiered in 1977 making it an appropriate choice for something geeky. In 2010 it was recognised in the USA and has slowly gained more popularity world wide.

On the same day as Geek Pride day other geeks celebrate the life of Douglas Adams, the author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy and famed technologist by carrying a towel to work. “Why a towel?” you may ask. Well, as explained in chapter three of The Hitchhiker’s Guide; a towel is the most important thing a hitch hiker should take with them on their travels, it can be used to protect against the weather, it can be used a blanket or clothes or anything you can think of, a towel is a hitchhiker’s best friend. So what better way to pay tribute to the great man by carrying around a towel? Towel day first started on May 25th 2001 2 weeks after Douglas Adam’s unexpected passing on May 11th and has continued as a tradition ever since.

This year is the first year we’re celebrating Geek Pride Day at Secret Source. We’re all wearing our favourite geeky t-shirts and everyone has changed their Slack profile pictures to their favourite film character. And of course those who want to bring in a towel, certainly can. This evening we’re hosting a Street Fighter tournament on a Sega Mega Drive while eating an R2D2 cake.

If you’ve got any other questions about Geek Pride Day or Towel Day, no need to ask us, the answer is 42.

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