Justin “Bugsy” Sailor is shown at his Marquette store along West Washington Street, the Upper Pennsula Supply Co.. (Journal photo by Christie Bleck)

MARQUETTE — Everyone looks forward to Friday. And Yoopers from Sault Ste. Marie to Menominee are looking forward to this Friday, otherwise known locally as 906 Day.

The celebration of the “world’s greatest area code” has fallen on Sept. 6 each year since Justin “Bugsy” Sailor, who calls himself the “official unofficial ambassador to the Upper Peninsula,” first came up with the idea in 2012.

The area code, the sixth largest east of the Mississippi River, is the one thing that connects the geographically far-flung cities, villages and townships across the peninsula and has become a way to refer to the region, Sailor said.

In fact, of the 320,000 people reported to live in the Upper Peninsula in 2015, about 64% live in villages with populations of 2,000 or less across a land mass roughly the size of Denmark, according to the 906 Day web page on the website for U.P. Supply Co., a Marquette-based store owned by Sailor.

He said the number of participants continues to grow, with this year’s including Stormy Kromer, Dig’s Gastropub, Upperhand Brewery, InvestUP, Beacon House, Wattsson and Wattsson Jewelers, New Age Tattoo, Getz’s and more.

Some retailers and bars are hosting events to celebrate the day, while others are offering specials on merchandise and services on Friday in honor of the iconic number, Sailor said.

For example, he said Stormy Kromer, the well-known Ironwood-based manufacturer of outdoor gear, is offering a limited edition of the company’s original black and red cap with 906 embroidered on it to help Yoopers celebrate the day.

Sailor said he hopes to have all the businesses who have reached out to him listed on the 906 Day website, but said celebrants should also look around at what is happening locally.

“We’ll be working hard to get information on www.906day.com,” Sailor said, “and we encourage businesses, organizations and individuals to do their own events or celebration.”

Some ideas for individuals to celebrate the day include: take a sauna, buy a friend a pasty, swim in the Great Lakes, or “go hiking, kayaking, fishing or other things that end with ‘ing,'” the website states.

The telephone exchanges in the 906 area code, which range from 201 in L’Anse to 988 in Ewen, are expected to be exhausted around 2023, according to a Michigan Technological University website, but celebration of all things Yooper will no doubt live on.

“The response has been incredible, for something that began as a whim in 2012, the morning of Sept. 6 has grown into a U.P.-wide event to celebrate this unique region,” Sailor said.

Lisa Bowers can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 242.