Inspired by the extreme periods of light and dark, in late spring 2019, a group of locals signed a petition to make the village the first “time-free zone,” a place where anyone could buy groceries, cut grass, or eat dinner no matter the time. Their reasoning made sense enough: In a town where the sun shines at 1 a.m. in July and you can see the stars at 1 p.m. in December, the time on the clock is meaningless. International media seized on the time-free zone as a curiosity, and the town leaned into the branding, flaunting its freedom from the clock and inviting others to experience it. The realities of how to run a business, coordinate work, and have a social life without time went unmentioned; what mattered was the fantasy of a time- and stress-free life.