What is Sweetest Day anyway??

For the many out there today in the Great Lakes Region, you are all thinking the same thing,  "This made up holiday by a card company is yet another reason to buy stuff for my loved one so they profit".  I'll admit I was saying the same thing till I really found what the true MEANING behind this day was.  Well heres the true facts behind the day...

Sweetest Day is celebrated each year on the third Saturday of October. Although often thought of by many as a second Valentine’s Day, Sweetest Day is actually a day meant to celebrate all the people who make your life special. It’s an occasion to make someone happy, a chance to celebrate and give gifts to relatives, friends, and associates.

Sweetest Day was founded around 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio by Herbert Birch Kingston who was a local candy company employee. Kingston sought to bring cheer and some happiness to the lives of those who were often forgotten. With the help of his friends, he began distributing candy and small gifts to children living in orphanages, those stricken with illness or disabilities, shut-ins, and others who were forgotten.

During the early years of the holiday, movie star Ann Pennington presented 2,200 Cleveland newspaper boys with boxes of candy to express gratitude for their service to the community.Theda Bara, another movie star of the period, also helped in establishing the holiday by giving away 10,000 boxes of candy to people in hospitals and to those individuals who came to watch one of her films at the Playhouse Square Theaters in Cleveland, Ohio.

Within a decade, the simple idea had gained such popularity that the city of Cleveland officially declared the third Saturday of October as Sweetest Day.

SO, from this day forward, we can acknowledge the DAY was simply not a made up greeting card day for the company to make more money, or a reason to buy stuff.  There was meaning by the day back then and I hope that with this, many realize that it still can live on as that.

*courtesy of sweetestday.com

With all of this said, HAPPY SWEETEST DAY, EVERYONE! no one forgotten.

Wendy Kunash

www.WendyKunash.com

These photos of the Founders of Cleveland's Sweetest Day were first published on page two of the Sweetest Day Section in The Cleveland Plain Dealer on October 8, 1922.

The images show the photos of the 12 Candymakers who "Arranged the Details of The Sweetest Day in the Year and Planned Its Success."