The British folk-rocker’s career can hardly be declared dead. He’s on the road with his old group, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, who are touring for the first time in 25 years and regularly filling arenas like Denver’s 25,000-seat Pepsi Center.
     Nevertheless, Nash, 58, is making an unlikely appearance Feb. 29 at the Gadsden High School cafeteria, a 1,000-seat venue, certain to sell out at $20 a head. But no matter how early you line up for tickets — or how long you’ve been living in Anthony, a hamlet of 10,000 people that straddles Texas and New Mexico — only one thing guarantees your admission.
     You must be born on Feb. 29th, just like Nash’s wife, Susan, who is either 11 or 47 years old, depending on whether you are willing to annually celebrate your birthday, even though it only rolls around every four years.
     “We’re so unusual. We’re like unicorns,” Susan Nash says. “And, of course, it’s very unusual for unicorns to meet, especially on their birthdays.”

Competing for Leap Year Dollars
The meeting this year in Anthony, Texas, is not an accident. Local officials are hoping that Leap Year will do for their city what Mardi Gras does for New Orleans — only on a much smaller scale. “We needed something to put us on the map,” says Leap Year baby and town resident Mary Ann Brown.
    

Of course, the title “Leap Year Capital of the World” is self-bestowed. After Brown suggested it at a chamber of commerce meeting in 1988, Texas and New Mexico officials were quick to endorse the idea. Why not? It’s not like there was any competition for the distinction, and Anthony’s old slogan: “The Best Little Town in Two States,” wasn’t exactly a great tourist draw.
     This year, more than 100 “29ers” from at least 20 states will be among the 6,000 folks participating in three days of chuckwagon breakfasts, barbecue lunches, square dancing, and a parade that will feature the Nash and his wife dressed up as a fisherman and mermaid.
     “Bette Midler lent me the fins,” says Susan Nash. “Leave it to her to have a mermaid outfit. What a pal.”
     Participating in such small town fun might be new to her, but Nash says she’s all for communing with 29ers. Only one in every 1,461 people shares such a distinction. “When I heard about it, I just had to join in,” she says.
     “Birthdays, of course, are a big deal, especially when you are a kid. If you celebrate on Feb. 28th or March 1st, it’s nice. But it’s not the same thing.”

The Glory of Leaperdom
The Leap Year market might be small, but the town of Anthony still has some competition. New York’s famed Plaza Hotel is offering 29ers a chance to stay there at the rate it was at when they were born. A woman with a Feb. 29th, 1952, birthday could stay for $19.52.
     To win, a contestant from each Leap Year must write an essay that impresses the judges. One prize is awarded for each year, and the grand prize is a free weekend at The Plaza every Leap Year for the rest of the winners’ lives.
     “It’s like we are becoming a recognized minority,” Brown says. “Maybe we Leap Year babies should have lobbyists in Washington to address our needs.”
     As an event in history, Feb. 29th can claim some distinctions. It’s the birthday of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey and actress Dinah Shore, not to mention soap star Antonio Sabato Jr. and septuagenarian stripper Tempest Storm.
     It was on this date in 1952 that New York City installed its first “Walk/Don’t Walk” signs, according to leapdaybabies.com.
     Exactly eight years later, the White House issued a report that found for the first time that U.S. children were overweight. Also on this date, in 1984, Liberace’s palimony suit was thrown out of court.

After Boating Accident, Nash OK
Even back as a 17-year-old, starting out with the Hollies, Graham Nash never played a school cafeteria, and he’s still formulating a strategy. “It’ll be a mixture of songs I’ve done over the years,” he says. “Since my wife asked me to play this, I’m going to suit the show to her.”
     Nash’s presence is certainly an integral part of the festivities. He’s the lone celebrity at the celebrity golf tournament. But the 58-year-old rocker wasn’t so sure he’d be able to perform this spring after breaking both legs last year in a boating accident in Hawaii.
     The doctors, however, have given him a clean bill of health. “I certainly feel it when I’ve been up on stage for a while,” he says. “But the legs are doing better.”
     As if Nash’s presence wasn’t enough, calendar experts assure me that this is indeed a special Leap Year, the likes of which have not been seen in four centuries.
     Here’s why: Until Julius Caesar came along, the Roman calendar was out of whack. In those days, every year had 365 days, even though it takes the earth 365.24219 days to complete a full rotation.
     As a result, if you lived long enough, you could experience your birthday in two or three different seasons.
     Caesar corrected the problem by lopping a day off February in three out of every four years. But to further synchronize the calendar, Pope Gregory in 1582 made it so that leap years coincide with century years only when first two digits are divisible by four.
     That means the year 2000 will be the first such year with a Feb. 29 since 1600. “I guess if you are born on this date, it’s doubly significant,” Brown says.
     Nash says he’s been holding this Feb. 29th date since the long-awaited reunion tour was formulated. “Of course, it’s the smallest venue I’m playing. But the date was set in stone,” he says. “It’s not like you can change something like this at the last minute.”

     Buck Wolf is a producer at ABCNEWS.com. The Wolf Files is a weekly feature.