BRUNSWICK — Some of them go all out every four years, others keep it low key. Some celebrate Feb. 28, others March 1. Their ages run from 64 to 16 — or 16 to 4, depending on who you ask. These eight Midcoast residents have one thing in common: Their birthday, Feb. 29, only comes around once every four years.

Leap Day, Feb. 29, the 366th day of the year, was added to the calendar as a corrective measure because the Earth does not orbit the sun in precisely 365 days. Without it, eventually, the seasons would be thrown out of whack and December might be hot, July might be freezing.

In some cultures, it’s a “backward” day, where women can propose to men. It was also the first official day of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692.

For some, it’s a fun, extra day. For one in every 1,461 people (an estimated 5 million across the globe, according to the History Channel) it marks a birthday.

We talked to eight people born on Leap Day about this unusual day and how they celebrate it.

Dennis Gears, 16

If Dennis Gears had been born just 15 minutes earlier, his parents might have left the hospital with not only a new baby, but also a brand new washer and dryer set. 

In his hometown, the parents of the first baby born on Leap Day were given a big prize, he said. Gears was the second baby born that day and his parents received a set of knives, he said. 

Now, almost 64 years later, Gears is getting ready to celebrate his sweet 16 with a short trip up to Quebec City and a stay at the Chateau Frontenac. 

Growing up, he often chose which day, the 28th or the 1st, was better, or tried to milk it and celebrate both, he said. When the actual day came around, it was always special, whether a big party, a trip or an event, like when he went to see Bruce Springsteen in concert for his last birthday. 

“It’s always fun when you get to see the day on the calendar,” he said, but “it’s a little weird the day after. You know you’re not going to see it for another four years.”

Traycee Elwell, 12

When Traycee Elwell turned 11, her son turned 22. The same year, she became a grandmother. 

Elwell, a bartender, will turn 48 on Saturday, but she likes to tell people, especially her customers, that she’s turning 12. 

She doesn’t have anything big planned for this year, probably a low-key night out to dinner, she said, but by her next birthday she hopes to have a new tattoo: a frog, to symbolize her Leap Day birthday. 

Elwell has always celebrated her birthday Feb. 28, she said, because she was born in February, not March. Last year, she welcomed “the best birthday gift I have ever received,” with the birth of her granddaughter, Hayden.

This year, her granddaughter will have her own first birthday and Elwell will celebrate on the 29th, but for three out of four years, they will celebrate together. 

“It’s very special to me,” she said. 

Chad Schnyder, 12

Every four years, Chad Schnyder and his family throw a big birthday bash at Buck’s Naked BBQ in Freeport, no matter if it’s a Tuesday or a Saturday. 

“It’s a little bit more special, so we go all out,” he said. 

He has always felt his birthday should be celebrated Feb. 28 because he was born in February, but his mom always contested that it would be March 1 because if there weren’t a leap year, he would have been born March 1. 

“But I always said if there weren’t a leap year I would have been born in July or something like that because of the way the days work,” he said. “It was always a bone of contention between my mom and I.” 

Aside from the questions about when to celebrate though, Schnyder said he enjoys having a Leap Day birthday. 

“I always have a longer conversation about my birthday than most people,” he said. 

His kids “couldn’t wait until they were older than dad,” he said, and “Pizza Hut gave me a free personal pizza last time.” 

Joanne Leckbee, 11

Joanne Leckbee, her twin daughters, her niece and her cousin’s daughter all celebrated their eighth birthdays the same year. 

As the mother of twins, she often jokes her family got cheated in the birthday department — her kids have to share one and she only gets one every four years. 

Still, she has fun with a leap year birthday, always joking she is the youngest in the room or, a few years ago, teasing her older sister that while she was 40, Leckbee hadn’t even hit double digits.

Coming from a large family, they have birthdays that run the gamut, she said, with celebrations on Christmas, April Fools Day, the first day of hunting season. 

“I’ve talked to a lot of people who didn’t want their kids to have a Leap Day birthday,” she said, but “we as a family have a lot of fun with it.”

 

 

 

Nichole England, 8

Nichole England always had a big birthday party every four years, and for her 32nd year and eighth birthday, she and her fiance are celebrating in Jamaica. 

This time around it went smoothly, but England said for years it was difficult to get a plane ticket because her birthday didn’t register as a real date. Sometimes if she entered the year first and then the month and day it would work, she said. 

She always celebrates on the 28th, though a good friend of hers who is also a Leap Day baby, celebrates March 1. To England though, “I wasn’t born in March,” and it’s that simple.

She’s used to people being surprised, even amazed when they learn her birthday.

 Recently at Shaw’s, she said, the woman checking her ID said: “I’ve never met one of you before, I’ve always wanted to meet one.” 

 

 

 

 

 

Chelsea MacDonald-Coffin, 7 

When Chelsea MacDonald-Coffin showed her ID at the bar on her 21st birthday, the bouncer thought it was fake. He wouldn’t let her in.  Feb. 29 is not a real day, he insisted, and called the police. The responding officer also didn’t believe her ID was real, MacDonald-Coffin, now 27, recalled earlier this week.

“I remember thinking, I don’t understand how nobody knows what this is,” she said, “I wouldn’t make a fake ID for Feb. 29.” 

Now, seven years later, Coffin-MacDonald is getting ready to celebrate her seventh birthday on Saturday. She doesn’t have anything big planned this year, probably just a small party with friends, she said, but usually makes a point to have a big celebration since the day only comes around once every four years. 

Despite the occasional hiccup (like her 21st) or the bad jokes (people always ask her if that’s why she’s so short, she said), she likes having a birthday on Leap Day. 

“It’s a great conversation starter, or a fun fact,” she said, and it may even be a family affair.

MacDonald-Coffin’s great-grandfather was born on Leap Day, as was his great-grandfather before him, she said.

“I feel like it’s really unique,” she said of her birthday. “It’s a little more special, and I think anyone likes feeling like that.” 

 

Dylan Maybee, 5

For years, Dylan Maybee didn’t like his Leap Day birthday, constantly being the butt of the joke, with kids saying he didn’t get a real birthday or that he was so much younger than everyone else.

Now, as he approaches 20, he joins in on the fun. 

“Not everyone gets to say they’re only five when they can drink,” he said Thursday. 

For three out of the four years, Maybee blows out his candles on March 1, since his mom always said if it hadn’t been a leap year, that’s when he would have been born. 

Once, in elementary school, his classmates at Georgetown Central School threw him a big birthday party with balloons and a lesson about what Leap Day is and why it’s celebrated. 

He doesn’t know what the plans for this year might be, other than that his parents are taking him out to breakfast. Beyond his elementary school surprise, he hasn’t had any unique celebrations for his birthday, no crazy stories. 

But, he said, “maybe that’ll change Saturday.” 

Scout Krauss, 4

Scout Krauss used to celebrate her birthday on Feb. 28, using the logic that she was born in February. But then, in first or second grade, “when Justin Bieber was in his prime,” she found out the singer’s birthday is March 1,  and decided to change her own. Now, approaching 16, or “the big oh-four,” as she put it, she has “reverted back to my own month,” and celebrates Feb. 28. 

This year, she gets to celebrate on her actual birthday. Four years ago she had a big 12th birthday party and this year she and her best friend will take the train to Boston and spend the day there. 

“I think people really get a kick out of it when you say your age is a fraction,” she said, noting that last year she turned three-and-three-quarters. 

“I don’t know how it is when you have a birthday every year,” she said, “but I wouldn’t change it.”

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