Given by His Excellency, President Kevin Baugh
26 May 2014 XXXVII
My fellow Molossians, friends and family, Greetings.
Today marks the 37th anniversary of the founding of our nation. 37 years since that idea was born on a rainy weekend in Portland, Oregon, leading from scribbles on paper to the thriving nation you see today. Our nation has a long and storied history, one of great achievements and unique perspectives. Molossia casts a long shadow, and has had an impact all over the world. Today, on our nation’s birthday, we reflect back on the previous year, and the events and people that have shaped Molossia.
This last twelve months has been one for State Visits; three in fact – the world truly beats a path to our doorstep. Prince Arthur and Princess Zena-Antoinette from the House of Homestead visited one year ago today, on 26 May 2013. Queen Anastasia of Ruritania visited Molossia on 14 July 2013, and our good friend Shaun Kasimir, the Magistrate of Ponderosa Territory traveled to our nation 13 August.
In addition to State Visits, we have had over a hundred tourists come to Molossia during the last year and this year shows no signs of slowing. Increased awareness of our nation brought our largest tour group ever, the Dayton Valley Car Club and Carson City Raider Boosters last August. Since the beginning of the tourist season in 2014 we have already had two tourist visits with two more scheduled in June and certainly more to come after that.
Fame came to us through the Internet, as well. Last summer our nation was featured on Yahoo! when the Yahoo! crew stopped by Molossia with their giant purple bus. Being featured on Yahoo! spiked interest in our own website, which had over 250,000 hits that day. Earlier last year we were featured on Reddit, which actually crashed our website due to intense interest.
Work has continued apace during this last year, to improve our great nation. Beginning last fall and continuing for several months we expanded Red Square into the beautiful, open space that you see today. In addition, the Tiki Hut was expanded to include a new outdoor barbeque area, making it more functional and last summer construction began on the Bottle House, which is still a work in progress. The Molossia phone system was expanded last November, now connecting the two outdoor phone booths with The Office of The President, the Tiki Hut Bar and Grill and Government House, making it a working communications system.
Not content to remain within our borders, Molossians traveled afar in search for adventure. Last June the Molossia Rangers journeyed to the faraway Lava Beds National Monument to explore the caves and volcanoes there. The Molossian Navy ventured out onto Lake Lahontan last June for a mission there and traveled as well to Lake Tahoe for naval maneuvers. In April 2014 the Molossia Rangers also took part in an expedition to Death Valley and the neighboring ghost town of Rhyolite, in far flung southern Nevada.
Other activities have taken place over the last twelve months; events that help make our nation the interesting and unique place it is. The 2013 Misfit Regatta, our biennial dry land boat race, took place out on Misfit Flats last October and included several races of cardboard boats on the dry lakebed.
Nevada Day in October 2013 combined several events, including a formal dinner at the Governor’s Banquet, which The First lady and I attended, the Governor’s Breakfast on Nevada Day itself and of course the Nevada Day Parade, always an enjoyable event.
Last November included a trifecta of events, including the Guy Fawkes celebration, Laika Day, which is the annual holiday just for our dogs, and the 30th Anniversary of the War Against East Germany, celebrated with German food.
In January, we adopted a new National Anthem, which you all just heard, called Fair Molossia Is Our Home. We are quite proud of our new anthem and along similar patriotic lines we recently constructed our new Heroes Monument, which recognizes those individuals that have helped develop Molossia through the years, as well as the brave Molossians that have fought in our two wars.
And so we come to today, our birthday, the day we celebrate all that is amazing about Molossia. Here, in the company of family and friends let us reflect on what it is to be Molossian and what it means to live, work and play in the world’s smallest sovereign republic. Our nation is a special place, with special people, truly a beacon among small nations. We have very much of which to be proud, we have done so much and worked so hard to create a nation from nothing, starting those many years ago. The future lies before us, a future of promise and greatness. I salute every Molossian and all of our friends for helping to make our nation the special place that it is today and that it will always be.