Is It Patriot’s Day or Patriots’ Day in New England? It’s All About the Punctuation

The answer to the question, "Is it Patriot's Day or Patriots' Day?" is a bit hard to explain, because it's both, depending on your state.

Let's start with what Patriot's/Patriots' Day is.

According to Wikipedia, Patriot's or Patriots' Day is:

...an annual event, formalized as a legal holiday or a special observance day in six U.S. states, commemorating the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Menotomy, some of the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. The holiday occurs on the third Monday of April each year, with celebrations including battle reenactments and the Boston Marathon.

Of all the states that celebrate the holiday (Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Florida, Wisconsin, and North Dakota), only Maine is different than the others in how they refer to the holiday. The only way you'd know the difference is the placement of the apostrophe.

The other states place the apostrophe at the end of the word, since it ends in "s"

Patriots'

Maine, however, does not. It has the apostrophe between the 't' and the 's' in Patriots.

Patriot's

What's the difference? Maine is using the singular possessive with their placement of the apostrophe. So it's not a day for all patriots. It's a day for one patriot.

Massachusetts places the apostrophe at the end, making it a day for all patriots, not just one. It's a subtle difference, but it is grammatically correct, while Maine's is not.

There has been debate about this improper placement, but nothing has changed over the years. Maine still uses 'Patriot's'. If you want to get even more confused, September 11 is Patriots Day with no apostrophe at all. My head is starting to hurt.