Locals pencil this date into their diaries..

MORE than 1,000 people gathered on Saturday in a scenic US neighbourhood for an annual ritual - the sharpening of a gigantic No. 2 pencil.

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The six-metres-tall pencil was sculpted out of a mammoth oak tree at the home of John and Amy Higgins in Minneapolis.

The beloved tree was damaged in a storm a few years ago when fierce winds twisted the crown off.

Neighbours mourned. A couple even wept. But the Higginses saw it not so much as a loss, but as a chance to give the tree new life.

The sharpening ceremony on their front lawn has evolved into a community spectacle that draws hundreds to the leafy neighbourhood on Lake of the Isles, complete with music and pageantry.