Hunh. So Sweetest Day isn't a Hallmark Holiday

I don't know about you, but I've always "pshaw-ed" Sweetest Day as a Hallmark holiday. I figured it was a bit over halfway between Valentine's Days and was an opportunity to capitalize on the love market. Mind you, I've never researched this and my feeling is more of a single woman's Bah Humbug than anything based on fact.

Today I learned it actually was started back in 1921 and was literally all about the sweets. A group of Cleveland confectioners gave over 20,000 boxes of candy to the "poor, elderly and orphaned".

Where did I get this information? From a press release! Chicago Chocolate Tours offers year round tours of chocolate shops and cafes and they sent out a reminder promoting them for this weekend. When I can learn something that removes a fairly jaded misconception - and involves chocolate - I'm happy to put the word out. It doesn't hurt that it's also a walking tour so you get to see some fantastic architecture and be guilt-free about all those confections you'll be sampling.

A public tour is $40, and their Sweetest Day schedule is:

Thursday, 12:45 Loop

Friday, 12:45 Loop

Saturday, 9:45am, 12:45pm, & 3:45pm Gold Coast

Sunday, 1:45pm Gold Coast