Happy Sweetest Day on time

Happy National Sweetest Day! Unlike last year, I'm observing the holiday on time this year.

I begin today's celebration of a day unfairly called a Hallmark Holiday with National Day Calendar's National Sweetest Day.

A perfect autumn reminder to spread a little joy! On this episode of National Day Spotlight..., Marlo Anderson...and co-host Alice Anderson are celebrating kind gestures for National Sweetest Day...They’ll focus on sharing small gifts, supportive words, and affection with generous hearts. Join them for a heartwarming and uplifting episode.

The video starts the story in Cleveland in 1921, leaving out the Detroit connection to today, which I outlined in Conflicting histories of the origin of Sweetest Day plus a drink and song to celebrate with your sweetheart, quoting National Day Calendar.

National Sweetest Day found its beginnings in a holiday founded by the National Confectioners’ Association in 1916 called Candy Day. On October 14, 1916, candy shops around the country filled newspapers announcing their sweetest treats and delights. Originally designated to be celebrated the second Saturday of every October, the confectioners’ convention in Detroit in May of 1916 made the final resolution. Walter C. Hughes, the secretary of the National Confectioners’ Association, encouraged Americans to patronizes (sic) their local candy shops, bakers, and druggist for the highest quality confections.
...
Sweetest Day’s theme of charity and giving became apparent in 1921. At the time, four Michigan confectioners united with the Red Cross. Those confectioners included the Detroit Retail Confectioners, Detroit Wholesale Confections Club, Detroit Jobbing Confectioners Association, and the Michigan Confectioners Club. Together, they distributed thousands of bags of candy to hospitals, orphanages, shelters, and homes across Michigan. The celebration also included 100 regulation army target balloons, which dropped coupons worth a box of candy.

Yes, National Day Calendar's web page still has this description.

On the other hand, the band Control Freq, which recorded "Sweetest Day," is based in Detroit, so there is another connection between the holiday and the Motor city. I found two new uploads of the song, Control Freq - Sweetest Day (album version) and Control Freq - Sweetest Day Radio Edit by Robot Repair Works, but neither will embed. Darn. As a consolation, I'm embedding Sweetest Day by Love Song Surprise again.


At least this has a cool preview image.

I close with a trailer for a horror film about the holiday, Sweetest Day Official Trailer. It was only a matter of time before an October holiday became the subject of a horror film.

Get ready to celebrate your new favorite holiday. #SweetestDayTheMovie - Coming Soon

An original independent horror/thriller: Sweetest Day.

Dorée Seay stars as Mindy, a resilient survivor confronted by a vengeful, undead Confederate soldier that nearly ended her life once before.

The film also stars Nate Boyer, Morgana Shaw, Deborah S. Craig, Chris Labadie, Mary Manofsky, Gina Su, Gaku Space, Catherine Corcoran, Andy Davoli, Kelli Maroney, Russell Todd, and Alex MacNicoll.

Doug Hawley makes his feature directorial debut adapted from his 2022 proof-of-concept short film of the same name. Hawley and Boyer penned the script, based on a story by Hawley and Seay.

Chris Gierowski, Clive Hawkins, Matthew Hersh produced alongside Hawley, Labadie and Boyer. J.W. Crane and Seay are executive producers with Logan Fulton as director of photography and original music by Frank Dormani.

IMDB lists this film as in post-production. May it be released by next Sweetest Day.

That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for more Critics Choice Documentary Awards coverage tomorrow as the Sunday entertainment feature.