Memorial Day is now annual grilling holiday No. 2

The latest Weber GrillWatch Survey has bumped Memorial Day up a notch in the hierarchy of grilling holidays.

Memorial Day is now the second most popular grilling holiday of the year, bringing 75% of grill owners dutifully to their posts.

Labor Day, which held the No. 2 post for more than decade, has been demoted a notch after it came in at 74% this year.

Numero Uno continues to be the Fourth of July, which encourages 87% of grill owners to fire up the grill.

At fourth and fifth are Father's Day (55%) and Mother's Day (45%).

Other findings of the survey: gas grills are preferable for special occasions like Memorial Day, beating charcoal grills 39% to 35%.

However, 46% of grill owners who own both a gas and a charcoal grill prefer using the charcoal grill on the weekends (46%) versus their gas grills (31%).

Of total grill owners, 30% report owning at least two grills, especially Gen Xers (40%) and Millennials (35%).

"Today, people want the freedom and flexibility to grill anytime—whether it's during a busy work week, when gas is often more convenient, or on a weekend, when there's more time to tend the coals and fire up their charcoal grill," says Melissa Enos, VP Americas Marketing, Weber-Stephen Products LLC.