diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..043acfa5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+*.class
+*.log
+
+# BlueJ files
+*.ctxt
+
+# Mobile Tools for Java (J2ME)
+.mtj.tmp/
+
+# Package Files #
+*.jar
+*.war
+*.ear
+*.zip
+*.tar.gz
+*.rar
+
+# virtual machine crash logs, see http://www.java.com/en/download/help/error_hotspot.xml
+hs_err_pid*
+
+# Simple Build Tool
+# http://www.scala-sbt.org/release/docs/Getting-Started/Directories.html#configuring-version-control
+
+dist/*
+target/
+lib_managed/
+src_managed/
+project/boot/
+project/plugins/project/
+.history
+.cache
+.lib/
+output/
diff --git a/bin/eventsim b/bin/eventsim
index 95bb8421..ce110239 100755
--- a/bin/eventsim
+++ b/bin/eventsim
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 #! /bin/bash
-java -XX:+AggressiveOpts -XX:+UseG1GC -XX:+UseStringDeduplication -Xmx8G -jar target/scala-2.11/eventsim-assembly-2.0.jar $*
+java -XX:+AggressiveOpts -XX:+UseG1GC -XX:+UseStringDeduplication -Xmx8G -jar target/scala-2.12/eventsim-assembly-2.0.jar $*
diff --git a/build.sbt b/build.sbt
index bb8dfb7a..b965d66f 100644
--- a/build.sbt
+++ b/build.sbt
@@ -2,26 +2,17 @@ name := "eventsim"
 
 version := "2.0"
 
-scalaVersion := "2.11.6"
-
-// resolvers += Resolver.url("confluent", url("http://packages.confluent.io/maven"))
-
-libraryDependencies += "org.apache.avro" % "avro" % "1.7.7"
-
-libraryDependencies += "org.apache.commons" % "commons-math3" % "3.6"
-
-libraryDependencies += "de.jollyday" % "jollyday" % "0.5.1"
-
-libraryDependencies += "org.rogach" % "scallop_2.11" % "0.9.5"
-
-libraryDependencies += "com.fasterxml.jackson.core" % "jackson-core" % "2.7.0"
-
-libraryDependencies += "com.fasterxml.jackson.core" % "jackson-databind" % "2.7.0"
-
-libraryDependencies += "org.apache.kafka" % "kafka-clients" % "0.9.0.0"
-
-libraryDependencies += "org.scala-lang.modules" % "scala-parser-combinators_2.11" % "1.0.4"
+scalaVersion := "2.12.4"
+
+libraryDependencies ++= Seq(
+  "org.apache.avro" % "avro" % "1.7.7",
+  "org.apache.commons" % "commons-math3" % "3.6",
+  "de.jollyday" % "jollyday" % "0.5.1",
+  "org.rogach" %% "scallop" % "3.1.1",
+  "com.fasterxml.jackson.core" % "jackson-core" % "2.7.0",
+  "com.fasterxml.jackson.core" % "jackson-databind" % "2.7.0",
+  "org.apache.kafka" % "kafka-clients" % "0.9.0.0",
+  "org.scala-lang.modules" %% "scala-parser-combinators" % "1.0.4"
+)
 
 // libraryDependencies += "io.confluent" % "kafka-avro-serializer" % "2.0.0"
-
-seq( sbtavro.SbtAvro.avroSettings : _*)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/project/assembly.sbt b/project/assembly.sbt
index 7fa83d11..15a88b09 100644
--- a/project/assembly.sbt
+++ b/project/assembly.sbt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-addSbtPlugin("com.eed3si9n" % "sbt-assembly" % "0.14.1")
\ No newline at end of file
+addSbtPlugin("com.eed3si9n" % "sbt-assembly" % "0.14.5")
diff --git a/project/build.properties b/project/build.properties
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b7dd3cb2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/project/build.properties
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+sbt.version=1.0.2
diff --git a/project/build.sbt b/project/build.sbt
index 843ce5b8..edef8d96 100644
--- a/project/build.sbt
+++ b/project/build.sbt
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
-resolvers += "sbt-plugin-releases" at "http://repo.scala-sbt.org/scalasbt/sbt-plugin-releases"
 
-addSbtPlugin("com.cavorite" % "sbt-avro" % "0.3.2")
\ No newline at end of file
+addSbtPlugin("com.cavorite" % "sbt-avro-1-8" % "1.1.3")
diff --git a/src/main/scala/io/confluent/eventsim/Main.scala b/src/main/scala/io/confluent/eventsim/Main.scala
index 6ab6e157..6a5622f6 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/io/confluent/eventsim/Main.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/io/confluent/eventsim/Main.scala
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ object Main extends App {
     val useAvro = toggle("useAvro", default = Some(false),
       descrYes = "output data as Avro", descrNo = "output data as JSON")
 
+    verify()
   }
 
   val startTime = if (ConfFromOptions.startTimeArg.isSupplied) {
@@ -211,4 +212,3 @@ object Main extends App {
     this.generateEvents()
 
 }
-
diff --git a/src/main/scala/io/confluent/eventsim/TimeUtilities.scala b/src/main/scala/io/confluent/eventsim/TimeUtilities.scala
index 1c80cb09..57df1f04 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/io/confluent/eventsim/TimeUtilities.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/io/confluent/eventsim/TimeUtilities.scala
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ package io.confluent.eventsim
 import java.time.temporal.{ChronoField, ChronoUnit}
 import java.time.{DayOfWeek, Duration, LocalDate, LocalDateTime}
 
-import de.jollyday.HolidayManager
+import de.jollyday.{HolidayCalendar,HolidayManager}
 import io.confluent.eventsim.Constants._
 import io.confluent.eventsim.config.ConfigFromFile
 import org.apache.commons.math3.random.MersenneTwister
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ object TimeUtilities {
   // def dateTimeToLocalDate(dt: Instant): LocalDate = LocalDate.from(Instant.ofEpochMilli(dt.getMillis()))
 
   // first implementation: US only
-  val holidays = HolidayManager.getInstance()
+  val holidays = HolidayManager.getInstance(HolidayCalendar.UNITED_STATES)
 
   def isHoliday(ld: LocalDate): Boolean = holidays.isHoliday(ld)