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Archive for October 2015
What's the deal with Sweetest Day bullshit, anyway?
Tomorrow is Sweetest Day. Well, tomorrow is Sweetest Day in many
Midwestern towns, mainly Detroit and Cleveland. But in the rest of the
country it will just be a regular ol’ Saturday.
Who's to blame for that?
In Detroit, it’d be Frederick Sanders of the Sanders Candy Company, a large promoter of the holiday (scroll down to see the man who founded Sanders in 1875). In Cleveland, it’d be those 12 white guys up top. (From left to right, courtesy of this post: C.R. Canter, A.E. Barton, R.T. Fuller, J.J. Wilsdon, R.H. Sheehan, W.A. Katzenmeyer, A.A. Sarouch, Louis Hahn, W.J. Nichols, C.C. Hartzell [chairman], L. Narwood, and L.E. Gruber.)
That was the committee back in 1921 — literally called the "Sweetest Day in the Year Committee" — that created this godforsaken excuse of a holiday. Yes, they were candy guys one and all, straight out of Big Candy, and they came up with this grand scheme to pull a holiday out of midair to boost sales. It's just the sort of nefarious dealings you would expect from a bunch of confectioneers. Big Candy is not to be trifled with.
Lots of folks, of course, have mistakenly placed blame on Big Greeting Card before — y'all know the term Hallmark Holiday — but American Greetings and Hallmark did nothing but take advantage of Big Candy's creation and used it to sell a bajillion greeting cards to guys who had the misfortune of living in Cleveland or Detroit while dating. (Hallmark started making cards in the '60s, AG in the '30s.)
Former Plain Dealer scribe and current CWRU media relations guru Bill Lubinger broke down the actual origin story back in 2005. Sadly, that piece of journalism is no longer available on Cleveland.com. Thankfully, though, bits and pieces of it were shared on a variety of Sweetest Day-oriented sites and in articles and the creamy nougat of his work can be pulled together for the most part, the most important bit being that the original tales of magnanimous candymakers dolling out treats for no reason other than to be good people is probably definitely not true. From the Mount Vernon News:
Big Candy tried to push the holiday to other cities, including New York, but not many cities were dumb enough to get sucked into the sugary hurricane. We were not so lucky.
Who's to blame for that?
In Detroit, it’d be Frederick Sanders of the Sanders Candy Company, a large promoter of the holiday (scroll down to see the man who founded Sanders in 1875). In Cleveland, it’d be those 12 white guys up top. (From left to right, courtesy of this post: C.R. Canter, A.E. Barton, R.T. Fuller, J.J. Wilsdon, R.H. Sheehan, W.A. Katzenmeyer, A.A. Sarouch, Louis Hahn, W.J. Nichols, C.C. Hartzell [chairman], L. Narwood, and L.E. Gruber.)
That was the committee back in 1921 — literally called the "Sweetest Day in the Year Committee" — that created this godforsaken excuse of a holiday. Yes, they were candy guys one and all, straight out of Big Candy, and they came up with this grand scheme to pull a holiday out of midair to boost sales. It's just the sort of nefarious dealings you would expect from a bunch of confectioneers. Big Candy is not to be trifled with.
Lots of folks, of course, have mistakenly placed blame on Big Greeting Card before — y'all know the term Hallmark Holiday — but American Greetings and Hallmark did nothing but take advantage of Big Candy's creation and used it to sell a bajillion greeting cards to guys who had the misfortune of living in Cleveland or Detroit while dating. (Hallmark started making cards in the '60s, AG in the '30s.)
Former Plain Dealer scribe and current CWRU media relations guru Bill Lubinger broke down the actual origin story back in 2005. Sadly, that piece of journalism is no longer available on Cleveland.com. Thankfully, though, bits and pieces of it were shared on a variety of Sweetest Day-oriented sites and in articles and the creamy nougat of his work can be pulled together for the most part, the most important bit being that the original tales of magnanimous candymakers dolling out treats for no reason other than to be good people is probably definitely not true. From the Mount Vernon News:
The heartwarming version of the story is that, in 1922, Herbert Birch Kingston, a candy company employee, gave away candy to people he felt had been forgotten by others: Orphans, shut-ins and the underprivileged. His magnanimous gesture caught on and the holiday — always celebrated on the third Saturday in October — spread, but slowly and not very far.
However, reporter Bill Lubinger of The Cleveland Plain Dealer shot the heartwarming story full of holes a few years ago when he wrote that “... Cleveland’s top candy makers concocted the promotion ... and it stuck, although it never became as widely accepted as hoped.”
Lubinger bases this on The Plain Dealer’s own article published on Oct. 8, 1921, which tells how “Sweetest Day was planned by a committee of 12 confectioners, who distributed 19,500 boxes of candy to newsboys, homeless people, orphans and others who had fallen on hard times in Cleveland. 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 Anne Pennington.”
Big Candy tried to push the holiday to other cities, including New York, but not many cities were dumb enough to get sucked into the sugary hurricane. We were not so lucky.
Sweetest Day: Do you celebrate it?
According to some reports the day began in the early 20th century as a way to honor your sweethearts, close friends, family or employees.
Sweetest Day is often criticized as being just a "Hallmark holiday."
7 Adventurous, Totally Romantic Things To Do on Sweetest Day
By Jason Heidemann for the Orbitz Travel Blog
It might an even more gimmicky holiday than Valentine's Day, but our hearts are nevertheless aflutter for Sweetest Day, which happens October 17 and honors lovebirds everywhere. Stuck for something to do? Consider a last minute getaway to any one of the destinations, which practically guarantee amore and romance any time of the year. Here are 7 adventurous, romantic things to do on Sweetest Day.
Take a sunrise hot air balloon ride: Santa Fe, New Mexico The best weather for a ride up in a hot air balloon is clear skies, light winds and no rain. Enter Santa Fe in October when the skies are reliably blue and sunrise temps hover in the balmy 60s. Lift off and soar above America's oldest and highest elevated capital city and inhale the clean air as you take in the scenic vistas of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range. Afterward, head downtown for a romantic breakfast for two. Order the most expensive dessert on earth: New York, New York
Want to watch your sweetheart literally digest the price equivalent of a pretty amazing engagement ring? According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the most expensive dessert in the world is the Frrrozen Haute Chocolate ice cream sundae at Serendipity III on the Upper East Side in New York which uses a blend of 28 cocoas, is decorated with .17 ounces of edible gold and is eaten with a diamond-encrusted gold spoon which you can keep. Talk about a sweet deal.
Book a private cabin at the world's tallest observation wheel: Las Vegas, Nevada Sin City knows no limits, both at the tables and elsewhere around town. Despite its penchant for the glitzy and gaudy, it remains a prime destination for an over-the-top weekend of romance. Try this: At the High Roller, the world's tallest observation wheel which is tucked behind the new Linq hotel, you can rent out an entire cabin for two. The experience last about half an hour and soars 550-feet above the Strip allowing plenty of time to join the Mile High--make that 1/3 of a mile high--Club.
It might an even more gimmicky holiday than Valentine's Day, but our hearts are nevertheless aflutter for Sweetest Day, which happens October 17 and honors lovebirds everywhere. Stuck for something to do? Consider a last minute getaway to any one of the destinations, which practically guarantee amore and romance any time of the year. Here are 7 adventurous, romantic things to do on Sweetest Day.
Take a sunrise hot air balloon ride: Santa Fe, New Mexico The best weather for a ride up in a hot air balloon is clear skies, light winds and no rain. Enter Santa Fe in October when the skies are reliably blue and sunrise temps hover in the balmy 60s. Lift off and soar above America's oldest and highest elevated capital city and inhale the clean air as you take in the scenic vistas of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range. Afterward, head downtown for a romantic breakfast for two. Order the most expensive dessert on earth: New York, New York
Want to watch your sweetheart literally digest the price equivalent of a pretty amazing engagement ring? According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the most expensive dessert in the world is the Frrrozen Haute Chocolate ice cream sundae at Serendipity III on the Upper East Side in New York which uses a blend of 28 cocoas, is decorated with .17 ounces of edible gold and is eaten with a diamond-encrusted gold spoon which you can keep. Talk about a sweet deal.
Book a private cabin at the world's tallest observation wheel: Las Vegas, Nevada Sin City knows no limits, both at the tables and elsewhere around town. Despite its penchant for the glitzy and gaudy, it remains a prime destination for an over-the-top weekend of romance. Try this: At the High Roller, the world's tallest observation wheel which is tucked behind the new Linq hotel, you can rent out an entire cabin for two. The experience last about half an hour and soars 550-feet above the Strip allowing plenty of time to join the Mile High--make that 1/3 of a mile high--Club.
