‘Leapers’ celebrate a truly special day
Meghan Kosla believes she’s found the fountain of youth.
It is not Ponce de Leon’s Florida discovery or Dorian Gray’s mirror. Kosla’s fountain of youth can simply be spotted on her driver’s license or birth certificate.
A date: Feb. 29.
The Bartlett woman is a leaper, or a leapling, or a leapster — whatever one born on Leap Year Day claims as a title.
Kosla is among the 4 million to 5 million people, according to various sources, to have been born on a Leap Day, which occurs every four years.
Since she’s beaten the odds — 1-in-1,461 — when Feb. 29 eventually comes around it’s her party, and she’ll lie if she wants to.
“The older I get, I get to choose which age I want to share with people. Is it the true number or is it the Leap Year number?” said Kosla, who graduated from Elk Grove High School.
This Thursday is a big one for Kosla, her 10th birthday — or her 40th. Whichever.
As such, she’s declared February her entire birth month. Revelries included a Feb. 9 Blackhawks game with her husband, James Ruddy, a nice dinner with their parents in Wheaton, and a Naperville hotel stay.
“Why not, I’ve waited four years for this,” Kosla said.
Leapers seem to take pleasure in the quirkiness of the day and the vagarity of the age they choose to observe.
Young Brooklyn Scalet of Crystal Lake is turning 12 on Feb. 29. Already she is a veteran of crafty ambiguity.
“My teacher will ask me, ‘Why are you acting like you’re 2 years old?’ But I am literally 2 years old,” she said.
“It’s fun messing with people because they get real confused,” said Brooklyn, born at Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital.
Her special day apparently was meant to be. Her mother, Erin, wasn’t expecting baby Brooklyn until March 13.
Once it became apparent Brooklyn would be a Leap Day baby, Erin and Brian Scalet chose which day they’d celebrate her birthday in a non-Leap Year.
If she was born before noon on Feb. 29, they’d celebrate on Feb. 28. After noon, it’d be March 1.
“I was born on 11:55 a.m.,” Brooklyn said. The 28th it was.
Normally, it’s a family celebration but on Leap Year it’s a bigger blowout with her friends. On Brooklyn’s fourth birthday they went to the American Girl store in Water Tower Place; at 8 it was baking cupcakes and then a movie-night sleepover.
“Once I get older it’d be funny if I make it like a 10-year-old would have a party,” she said. “I’m 40 years old and acting like a 10-year-old and having a big, old sleepover with my friends.”
That’s basically how Schaumburg’s Lori Pacocha did it. On her actual 40th birthday her parents and her sister, Sheri, threw her a “Cinderella” party befitting a 10-year-old princess at the old Holiday Inn Holidome in Schaumburg.
Lori Pacocha’s feelings on being a Leap Day baby have evolved. When she was little it was a mixed bag “because some kids would tease that I didn’t have a real birthday, and some thought it was cool,” she said.
As she got older the novelty became more appealing. Though her mother held Feb. 28 as the date during non-Leap Years, Lori might celebrate on both Feb. 28 and on March 1 “to be a smarty-pants,” Pacocha said.
Her husband, Roman, caught the bug, proposing marriage on Feb. 29, 1992.
On Pacocha’s actual 21st birthday she went to Chicago to celebrate at the bars. She plans on doing that again when she turns 84, her next “21st” birthday.
“Now that I’m older I’ve totally embraced it. I think it’s unique and fun to be different,” said Pacocha, whose sister-in-law, Jude, also is a Leap Year baby.
The leapling phenomenon is not limited to people. The Village of Antioch was incorporated on Feb. 29, 1892.
Antioch actually was incorporated twice, said Antioch Historical Society volunteer Ainsley Wonderling, whose family ties to the village date to 1841. Antioch first incorporated in 1857, she said, unincorporated in 1865 due to financial concerns surrounding the Civil War, then incorporated again decades later in a vote by male residents, 57-52.
“I don’t know that a lot of people know that we incorporated on Leap Day,” said Assistant Village Administrator Jim Moran. “I guess it goes to show how much of a rich history we have, where that’s not the first thing people think of.”
It’s a history that includes being home to Pickard China, which services Camp David and Air Force One and produced the china for the Obama White House — 11-piece settings for 320 people.
To honor Antioch’s 33rd Leap Year anniversary and 132nd birthday chronologically, Mayor Scott Gartner recognized the achievement at the Feb. 26 village board meeting.
On Thursday, Gartner will go on WUSN-FM US99 with the country music station’s Drew Walker to announce the kickoff of Antioch’s “It’s Thursday” summer concert series. The village will announce the entire summer lineup via social media.
In 2020, street banners helped celebrate the anniversary throughout the spring and summer, Moran said.
“It’s a special day,” he said. “Anytime we get to celebrate what a great village Antioch is, it’s a good day.”
And yet, leapsters must use proper judgment when celebrating.
“Even despite turning 40 this year, which I don’t feel, I can also say, ‘I’m turning 10,’” said Bartlett’s Kosla. “I just don’t want my husband shouting at the top of his lungs, ‘I’m married to a 10-year-old!’ That just doesn’t sound right.”
A treat for leapers:
• Iconic Chicago shop Stan’s Donuts & Coffee, known for its whimsical gourmet doughnuts and extensive coffee and beverage lineup, is offering sweet treats for people celebrating Leap Day birthdays. You can pick up a free half-dozen doughnuts in-store only at all Stan's Donut locations in the Chicago area. Guests must show a valid ID at the time of purchase.
• Old Town Pour House, a bar and restaurant featuring 90 beers on tap and modern American food with chef-driven twists, invites all leaplings to celebrate their birthday with a complimentary entree of their choice upon presenting an ID. The Leap Year special is available at all Illinois locations, including 8 Oak Brook Center, Oak Brook, and 1703 Freedom Drive, Naperville. Reservations can be made at oldtownpourhouse.com.
• Pinstripes is offering exclusive deals on bowling, bocce and beer and wine sales for Leap Day babies at its locations, including Northbrook, Oak Brook and South Barrington. To make a reservation, visit pinstripes.com/reservations/.