As summer reaches the autumn of its existence, a question immediately followed by an epiphany raced through my otherwise simple and shallow mind.

The question: Why does Labor Day have to mark the unofficial end of the greatest season we know?

Sorry, non-summer advocates. The quaint foliage of fall, surly winds of winter and the dewy demeanor of spring just don’t compare to the ice cream cones, bathing suits, late-day outdoor happy hours and late-night dance floor drama that is the essence of Sinatra’s summer wind. It is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the calendar…Hunt fans, Hoboken Ski Club Members and Spring Flingers be damned.

Labor Day began back in September of 1892, when union workers in New York City took an unpaid Monday off and protested around Union Square in support of a paid holiday. That’s not exactly burgers, beer and a day at the beach, but it was a noble effort for a just cause. In 1894, an election year, then-President Cleveland saw a political opportunity to appeal to voters by calling for a national holiday for all union workers on the Monday of the annual protest, and Labor Day was born (despite the Clinton-esque tactic, Cleveland still lost his re-election bid).

So it appears the reason the first Monday in September was chosen for this holiday is nothing more than dumb-luck. In other words, it wasn’t chosen to commemorate death or a person’s birthday. Labor Day’s approximate date does not represent anything truly time sensitive other than someone’s outdated idea that it should serve as the unofficial end to summer…even though the actual season does not end until 2-3 weeks later.

And it doesn’t need to be that way.

Much has changed since 1894. Union workers have become so apathetic the need for a day off is no longer warranted (And before burning rocks with nasty notes start flying through my Willow apartment window…that’s a joke). Overall, the arguments for keeping Labor Day on the first Monday in September are feeble at best.

"It’s too cold for the beach in mid-September": Stop your nonsense. The wonders of global warming have ensured that the heat of August will linger well into the heart of September. You won’t see air conditioners leave Hoboken’s older buildings until mid-October. Furthermore, it seems that every year in my 28 years of existence (give or take a few years) the weekend after Labor Day has always been 90 degrees and sunny.

The tribes that invented Indian Summer were so money they didn’t even know it…

"You can’t be at the beach when football starts": Any sports fan knows the NFL season has been expanded to the point where early season games are not crucial to making the playoffs and therefore do not need to be seen while lounging in the sand or Church Square Park. For example, the Pats were 0-2 in the month of September last year and still won the Super Bowl. As for the NCAA, most college conference games don’t start until October- the true start of the campaign.

According to weather.com, the average high temperature in Hoboken is five degrees warmer in September than May (73 degrees to 68 degrees). That said, what mandates that the outdoor cafes of Washington Street begin bringing their patrons indoors after Labor Day? Or that Hoboken has to become packed once again with returning depressed shore house people upset that their Edgar’s and Marlin Bars were so rudely and abruptly taken away? Because of a couple of Union protesters that took a day off back in the 19th Century? That’s as antiquated as that "It’s Getting Hot in Here" song has become this summer.

My epiphany is simple and bold: Postpone Labor Day two weeks to the third week of September, when summer ACTUALLY ENDS. Put it in its rightful place to the time when the sun passes over the Tropic of Capricorn, around September 23 or so.

Besides adding two more weeks to avoid reality, the benefits also will be seen from an economic perspective. Shore communities will be given fourteen more days to be able to generate revenue through outrageous cover charges, overpriced Boardwalk rides and overzealous police officers handing out noise violations and 29MPH in a 25MPH zone speeding violations like they were 50/50 raffle tickets.

The unofficial start of summer occurs in spring on Memorial Day weekend, or approximately four weeks before the summer officially begins on June 21. But the unofficial end of summer (Labor Day) arbitrarily sits about 3 weeks before the summer officially ends. Who ARE the ad wizards that came up with this one?

Perhaps the bitterness of knowing that the summer of Conch has almost reached its final inning has made me delusional, but this proposal makes too much sense. John Belushi as Delta Chi brother Bluto Blutarsky once stated that "nothing is over until we say it is." Bluto was correct. The Germans haven’t bombed Pearl Harbor yet. We still have time to do something about this while we’re still relatively young.

So here’s what you, the pro-active reader, can contribute to kick-start what could potentially be as big a movement in this country as Hands Across America (that kind of failed, but you get the point).

Email New Jersey 11th District Congressman Robert Menendez at menendez@mail.house.gov and tell him you want to move Labor Day back to the third Monday in September. Upon doing so, forward this story to ten of your friends and let the fireworks begin. It beats sending those depressing chain letters…

Hoboken is the birthplace of baseball and Frank Sinatra. They might have to add the birth of longer summers to that list.

Epiphanies are cool.

Joe Concha is a contributor for MSNBC.com and writes features for Hobokeni.com. He is currently enjoying the "Summer of Conch" in Sea Girt, New Jersey, where he plans to be cryogenically frozen from September 3, 2002 until Memorial Day 2003.

Please send all comments, questions and corrections to features@hobokeni.com and we'll be glad to forward them.