The Idaho City Law That Made It Illegal To Stop Smiling In Public

Idaho. That's the place with the potatoes, right? Potatoes and, uh ... Let's say beautiful and rugged landscapes? That ought to cover it. Plus it's got that weird, memorable shape that's wide and square at the south and tapers off towards the north, with that jagged border on the east side. So yeah. Ta-da! Idaho. Also, if you're ever passing through the town of Pocatello in Bannock County, Idaho, you'd better smile. If you don't, the smile police might arrest you and toss you in the (presumably very happy) local jail. And by arrest, we mean "arrest." Get it?

So yeah, before we get into all that weird smile stuff, let's first say that Idaho's got a bunch of strange laws. It is decreed that you can't live in a dog house unless you are a dog. Also, no sniping local wildlife from helicopters — that's plain unfair. You've got to get down and dirty with them elk, or ducks, or whatever else is out there (looking at you, rogue potatoes). And speaking of potatoes, you'd better not sell any "Idaho Deluxe" potatoes with evidence of "rot, blemishes, or sun damage," per Listen Boise, or else you're getting chucked in the slammer. 

And then there's the smile thing. Applicable only in Pocatello (no worries, Boise people), this is more a gag or local folk tradition more than any serious law. But the city's 1948 "Smile Ordinance"? That's for real. 

As the City of Pocatello, Idaho tells the tale, we have Mayor George Phillips to thank for the city's 1948 "you must smile or else" law. Granted, Phillips always intended the "Smile Ordinance" to be a joke, as he wanted to brighten the spirits of a city swamped in a super harsh winter. And sure, when locals heard about the new law they might have had a chuckle for two or three seconds. And if you're thinking that Pocatello must have had about 500 people living in it at the time, well, census data from 1950 puts the population at 26,131. That's not a ton of residents, but it's enough to make the townscape look truly demented if every single one of them was walking around smiling at the same time. Nowadays, in case the reader was wondering, Pocatello's gotten up to about 58,000 people. Good luck enforcing smiling on all those people at the same time.

Then again, as we said, Mayor Phillips just wanted the whole thing to be fun for locals. It seems like the wider world didn't even know about the whole thing until 1987. This also means that the law stayed on the books following Mayor Philip's reign. In 1987, the Pocatello mayor proudly announced to the American Bankers Association — the group that broke the story — that Pocatello was indeed the "U.S. Smile Capital." The Smile Ordinance transformed into "Smile Days" for the whole family, complete with school events and some of those mock arrests we mentioned before. 

For those wondering how serious Pocatello people are about smiling, it definitely seems like "Smile Days" still exist to this day. There's a Pocatello Smile Days Facebook page intent on carrying the spirit of jollity and happiness through the whole year. There's also a separate U.S. Smile Capital webpage explaining the history of Pocatello's smiley tradition.  

That webpage quotes 1948's smile-related Ordinance No. 1100. Formally dubbed "This Week Pocatello Smiles" and runs from April 9 through 14. The law bans, "frowns, grimaces, scowls, threatening and lowering looks, gloomy and depressed facial appearances generally. Such actions reflect all of which reflect unfavorably upon the reputation of Pocatello ..." All such doom and gloom, "... will be replaced immediately with happy, beaming, smiling countenances." Maybe you get a pass if you stub your toe and yowl in pain for a few seconds.

While we can't say how many Pocatello residents currently care about "Smile Days," we do know a few people who are happy about it: the parents of kids in need of dental care. In a true example of humanity at its best, the Southeastern Idaho Public Health Department and Idaho State University Department of Dental Hygiene give free dental care to children without dental insurance during Pocatello's Smile Days-related "Give Kids a Smile Day." This has been going on at least since 2013 when 91 kids from low-income households received a total of $18,748 in free dental care. If that's not enough to bring a smile to your face, then you might want to stay away from Pocatello.