Sweetest Day (Third Saturday in October)

Sweetest Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the Midwest states: Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. Sweetest Day is celebrated on the third Saturday in October.

The holiday began in the city of Cleveland, Ohio in 1922. During America's Great Depression, candy store employee Herbert Birch Kingston put together a group of citizens to provide small gifts to homeless people, orphans, and others who had fallen on hard times. While this sounds like a kind non-commercial activity, the day quickly departed from its roots. Today, this tradition now seems to largely involve giving small presents, such as cards, candy and flowers, to family, friends, and sweethearts.

After Mother's Day and Father's Day were firmly established, there were many proposals for other holidays. A writer for the New York Times in 1914 jokingly suggested the establishment of Maiden Aunty's Day, Household Pet Day, and Slush Day. 

Two years later, the National Confectioners' Association seriously suggested the creation of Candy Day, to be celebrated the second Sunday of October by, naturally enough, giving gifts of candy. Folks simply didn't take to Candy Day though. By 1923 the confectioners were forced to admit that the public, while gullible, indeed had its limits. "Are [the buying public] enthusiastic over a holiday that has for its avowed purpose the sale of candy?" asked the trade journal Candy Factory. The answer, a classic of understatement, was "we are inclined to think ... they are not." 

The Confectioners' Association did not give up easily. The association merely renamed the would-be holiday Sweetest Day, moved it to the third Saturday in October, and continued its promotion. Although the holiday didn't turn into a cash cow of Valentine's Day proportions, it is still a profitable industry event celebrated in parts of the United States, despite persistent allegations of being a Hallmark holiday.

Please see our Hallmark holiday page if you don't know the term Hallmark holiday.

If you look at information from the Confectioners' Association, none of it refers to the shift from Candy Day to Sweetest Day. The association traces the roots of Sweetest Day back to Herbert Birch Kingston, who seems to have had something different in mind.

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