Sweetest Day....????

Question

Have u ever heard of it??? Where do you live....I'm trying to figure out where its celebrated and where its not...It is definately a real holiday in Ohio where i live....I Love it...its NOT just like Valentines's day either...Sweetest day can be for ur mom, grampma, friends, family, or jus anyone u care about to tell them you care...

Answer 1

Yes- celebrate it every year with your sweetheart! xoxox Live in Minnesota and there are cards in the stores here for it. Happy Sweetest Day to all ♥

Answer 2

I'm pretty sure Sweetest Day is manufactured by florists for extra sales in the slow period. I had never heard of it until I lived in Cincinnati.

Answer 3

It is big in Michigan, Ohio, Indianna. People on the east coast (north or south) are not aware of it... smile... unless they know someone from one of the three states above who recognizes them on that day.

Answer 4

Sorry, Grew up in New England and now live in Florida. Never heard of it.

Answer 5

I'm not going to be a tool of the flower industry, and I'm not going to be Hallmark's monkey-boy. I sure as hell don't need another cheesy, made up holiday to tell my wife that I love her.

Answer 6

I have heard of it. I'm from Chicago. I remember it from school. I don't celebrate it now.

Answer 7

i actually read about it here on yahoo answers. i live in the oc in cali and we do not celebrate. actually, everyone ive asked has no clue what it is

Answer 8

Awwww. That just warms the heart!

Answer 9

Sweetest Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the Great Lakes region and parts of the Northeast United States[1] (with Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo, New York being the biggest Sweetest Day cities[2]) on the third Saturday in October. It is described by Retail Confectioners International, a Candy Trade Organization, as an "occasion which offers all of us an opportunity to remember not only the sick, aged and orphaned, but also friends, relatives and associates whose helpfulness and kindness we have enjoyed."[2] Critics call Sweetest Day an artificial holiday created by the Candy and Greeting Card Industries solely to boost the revenues of candy and greeting card companies.[citation needed]

Contents [hide]
1 Origin
2 Today
3 References
4 Further reading
5 External links



[edit]
Origin

The Cleveland Sweetest Day Commitee
10,000 Cheered By Candy Gifts on Cleveland's First Sweetest Day (October 8, 1921)The origin of Sweetest Day is frequently attributed to candy company employee Herbert Birch Kingston as an act of philanthropy.[3] However, Bill Lubinger, a reporter for The Plain Dealer, contends that "Dozens of Cleveland's top candy makers concocted the promotion 84 years ago and it stuck, although it never became as widely accepted as hoped."[4] This claim is based on The Cleveland Plain Dealer October 8, 1921 edition, which chronicles the first Sweetest Day in Cleveland. According to the newspaper it was planned by a committee of 12 confectioners, who distributed 19,500 boxes of candy to newsboys, orphans, the elderly, and the poor in Cleveland, Ohio[5]. The Sweetest Day in the Year Committee was assisted in the distribution of candy by some of the biggest movie stars of the day including Theda Bara and Ann Pennington.[6] Leigh Eric Schmidt traces the origin back to 1910 in his book Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holidays, where he argues that "Sweetest Day" is a later incarnation of the failed attempt to create a "Candy Day" holiday.[7]

According to The New York Times, "the powers that determine the nomenclature of the weeks of October" decreed that the week beginning on October 10, 1927 would be known as Sweetest Week.[8] The week was punctuated by the First National Candy Exposition which was held on the fourth floor of the Grand Central Palace. More than 70 exhibitors displayed their candies at the exposition.[8]

On August 10, 1937, a headline on page 38 of The New York Times announced "TO EXPLOIT GIFT-GIVING: Candy Men Set Oct 21 for Event to Be Called 'Sweetest Day'"[8] and detailed how "representatives of retail stores and candy manufacturers meeting at the Hotel Pennsylvania...set October 21 as Sweetest Day when the World's Fair will have a pageant for the occasion." The purpose of the promotional event was stated to be "to exploit the sentiment of gift-giving on various holidays." It was reported that "the backers hope to include manufacturers and retailers of other types of gift merchandise in the movement."[8] William C. Kimberly, secretary of The Association of Manufacturers of Candy and Chocolate of the State of New York and chairman of the Sweetest Day Committee. stated "...an opportunity exists for businessmen in the city to develop a special gift-giving occasion which might compare with Valentine's Day, Mother's Day or Easter."[8]

On September 25, 1937, The New York Times reported under Advertising News and Notes that The National Confectioners Association had launched a "movement throughout the candy industry" to rank Sweetest Day with the nationally accepted Mother's Day, Father's Day, and St. Valentine's Day.[9] The article reported that "the volume of candy sales on Sweetest Day in Cleveland last year exceeded by 18 per cent any other day in 1936." The article further stated that "some retail stores reported that Sweetest Day candy sales exceeded those of any Saturday in the year by more than 60 per cent."[9] The National Confectioners Association also announced in the article that "the movement to gain national recognition of Sweetest Day originated in Cleveland and Cincinnati, and it has spread to Detroit, Buffalo, Dayton and Columbus, Ohio, and many other cities and communities

A Sweetest Day was also proclaimed by Candymakers in New York City on October 19, 1940. The promotional event was marked by the distribution of more than 10,000 boxes of candy by the Sweetest Day Committee.The candy was distributed among 26 local charities. 225 children were given candy in the chapel at the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children on October 17, 1940. 600 boxes of candy were also delivered to the presidents of the Jewish, Protestant and Catholic Big Sister groups of New York