For other parts of the country, the third Saturday in October is just a random fall day. But across the Midwest, if you’re not lavishing your significant other for Sweetest Day, you might be in the doghouse.
And while we’ve always heard local greeting card creator American Greetings started this autumnal Valentine’s Day, hold the roses. That myth has become so pervasive that American Greetings had to rebut the claim in a blog post in 2018.
Though the 1906-founded company and Sweetest Day both share Cleveland roots, the origin of the holiday is found in candy, not cards. In 1921, a group of Cleveland candy executives kicked off Sweetest Day as a way to sell candy and encourage people to connect with their loved ones.
“It started out as a wonderful, charitable gesture,” says Cassandra Fear, owner and chocolatier at Fear’s Confections in Lakewood.
Every year on Sweetest Day, Fear posts a full-page message from The Plain Dealer’s Oct. 8, 1922, four-page special Sweetest Day section on her business’s social media accounts, which encouraged Clevelanders to “steal enough time from the turmoil of routine affairs to bring a bit of good cheer to those you love.”
As the years went on, the message of connecting with family members became decidedly more romantic, and Clevelanders can now celebrate by picking up a Sweetest Day card from American Greetings or some candied bacon at Fear’s Confection made especially for the holiday.
Status: Busted
Read More: Click here to read the full list of 30 Myths That Define Cleveland
CLE Myths: Sweetest Day's Origins
We love American Greetings, but did they create the October holiday?
