Bill Plympton Day: It's a thing. Because the fun part about running a city is that you get to declare things "Yada Yada Day," and the City of Portland has declared May 26 to be, yes: Bill Plympton Day. You are probably familiar with Portland-native Plympton's work as an animator, including the Academy Award-nominated short Your Face, but if nothing else this Saturday's first official Bill Plympton Day provides an excellent introduction.

Things will kick off at 2 pm at the Bagdad with a pre-func, followed by screenings at 3 and 7 pm of a new documentary about the artist, Adventures in Plymptoons, with filmmakers in attendance:

And you can read Mayor Sam Adams' proclamation of the new local holiday behind the cut, complete with a host of "whereases" and reasons to celebrate.

Whereas, Bill Plympton is the only human being on the planet to have hand drawn five feature length films: The Tune (1992), I Married A Strange Person (1997), Mutant Aliens (2001), Hair High (2004), Idiots and Angels (2008), and

Whereas, Portland, a capitol of world class animation, is where he first learned the art of animation, and

Whereas, Bill's creative animations are reflective of the character of Portland's Culture of Creativity, and

Whereas, Bill's devotion to hand-drawn animation reflects the craftsmanship of our city's professional and non-professional creative class, and

Whereas, Bill has earned the respect of the national and international animation community as a two-time Oscar nominee, for Your Face (1987) and Guard Dog ( 2005), and winner of the Palm d'Or for Push Comes To Shove (1991), and

Whereas, for years Bill has nurtured Portland's animation community with yearly meetings on the banks of his beloved Clackamas River, and

Whereas, Bill actively encourages and mentors young animators, sharing with them the secrets behind his success, and

Whereas, fellow Portland animator Matt Groening has stated his belief that "Bill Plympton is God,"

Now, therefore, I, Sam Adams, Mayor of the City of Portland, Oregon, the "City of Roses," do hereby proclaim May 26, 2012 to be Bill Plympton Day in Portland, and encourage all residents to observe this day.