SALEM — When the end of the legislative session draws near, Rep. Jeff Barker begins sending subliminal messages to his colleagues to hurry up and finish their work.

Barker, a former law enforcement officer, started a tradition of wearing Hawaiian shirts on Fridays in 2003, one of the Legislature’s longest sessions. The Legislature didn’t adjourn until close to Labor Day.

“It was a way to remind everybody we should be on vacation,” Barker said. Other lawmakers joined in the visual message by wearing their own Hawaiian shirts.

The 2005 session also dragged on nearly until Labor Day, so Barker continued the practice to spur lawmakers to pass a budget and finish other legislative business.

The tradition eventually became known as “Aloha Fridays,” in reference to the Hawaiian greeting, not the community of Aloha in Washington County, which Barker happens to represent. Some people presume that the name is a spin on both, but Barker notes the pronunciation is different, as will some of his constitutents.

Now emblazed in unwritten legislative tradition, Aloha Fridays have no regular start date.

“Usually, I let the other legislators know the Friday before I start doing it, during remonstrance time,” Barker said.

Participation in Aloha Friday is short of universal, but Barker has several followers of the tradition, and detractors. One criticism Barker hears is that the practice is disrespectful.

“But most people take it in spirit it is intended,” he said.