No, not because dad’s need to be honored every Sunday, but because the city is wonderfully empty on Father’s Days. While everyone is off enjoying a barbecue or a round of golf with dad (let him win!), I get to enjoy the relatively deserted city that is New York.

After completing my family obligations yesterday, I had some errands to run and enjoyed them immensely, especially compared to how “fun” they would have been on a normal Sunday afternoon. For example, I visited both Bed Bath & Beyond and the Food Emporium BridgeMarket yesterday afternoon, and was in and out in less than 15 minutes at each. For those who don’t know, that’s unheard of! I was able to do my shopping and browsing without all the normal Sunday afternoon traffic at both stores, which, if you’ve never been to them on a weekend, they normally resemble the stock exchange, except that the stock exchange is probably more civil. However, yesterday, they were fairly empty, and it was wonderful. I almost wanted to find more stuff to buy at both so I could have enjoyed their emptiness more, but that would only contribute to the emptiness in my wallet, so I’ll just went out for a run instead on the East River Esplanade…and even that was emptier than normal for a Sunday afternoon.

After thinking about it a bit, I think that Father’s Day is the only non-national holiday where the city becomes noticeably emptier. Anyone else think of another?