NATIONAL CHERISH AN ANTIQUE DAY

Each year, National Cherish an Antique Day encourages us to seek the deeper story behind treasures and family heirlooms. Observed annually on April 9th, the day reminds us that sometimes there is more to antiques than just a dollar sign.   

Do you have something special that was passed down from your parents, grandparents or great-grandparents? The day provides us an opportunity to learn the story and the history behind our treasured antiques. It’s an excellent time to record the provenance and preserve it for safekeeping. Over the years, family members collect items from their travels or that remind them of a moment from their past. They may be cherished because of personal or emotional connections. Often a colorful story tells how it came into the family making it even more valuable as an heirloom.

Homer Laughlin phased out the Wells Art Glaze line in 1935. That same year Frederick Rhead was busy creating a new solid color dinnerware line, eventually named Fiesta.

This is Mary's and my favorite collection which we started after our daughters gave us a place settings many years ago.

The Birth of Fiesta

Towards the end of 1934 Homer Laughlin was ready to begin production of a solid color dinnerware line. During the first few months of the 1935 Rhead was busy creating shapes and choosing glazes. By April the glazes under consideration were: yellow, bright red, lava red, turquoise, buff, white, green, blue, ochre and rose ebony.

Carafe in the Rose Ebony trial glaze. Image from laurelhollowpark.net

Homer Laughlin general manager, Joseph Wells chose six colors for limited production on basic table items such as cups and saucers, plates and sugar and creamer. The colors were deep blue, rose ebony, yellow, mandarin red, turquoise and white.

Dinnerware setting at the Collectors Club

Dinner in Milwaukee in2019.

Our original Red collection!

EARTH DAY CELEBRATIONS AROUND THE GLOBE

Support Our Pollinators! 

Bring native bees and other pollinating creatures to your garden. One way to do this is by selecting the right plants. Need ideas?

• Find a beauty or two from our list of plants that attract butterflies and plants that attract hummingbirds.
• Learn more about native bees (the super-pollinators!) and make a native bee house (much like a bird house!). Or, see how to make a bee-friendly garden habitat including bee-friendly plants. 
• Here are more ways you can help pollinators in your backyard.

10 Facts About Blueberries for National Blueberry Pie Day

We love Michigan blueberries! From blueberry apple sauce, blueberry muffins, and blueberry turnovers to blueberries on salads, and blueberries on oatmeal, we love them every which way. However, it’s no secret that our favorite way to enjoy them is in Blueberry Pie!

For the fellow Blueberry Pie lovers out there, there’s a whole day dedicated to you. National Blueberry Pie Day is celebrated annually on April 28th! To celebrate the holiday, we gathered a few fun facts about blueberries and blueberry pie to please hearts and appetites.

Stop in and celebrate with a slice of our homemade Blueberry Pie made with Michigan Rubel Blueberries (and maybe even add a scoop of vanilla ice cream).

10 Delicious Facts About Blueberries

1.  Grand Traverse Pie Company sources all of its Michigan-grown Rubel blueberries from True Blue Farms in Grand Junction, Michigan.

2.  Michigan blueberry growers produce over 110 million pounds of blueberries every year, making Michigan the leader in blueberry production.

3.  Most of Michigan’s blueberry farms are in West Michigan in the Lower Peninsula along Lake Michigan. The sandy soil and climate, moderated by the lake, are perfect for growing berries.

4.  Michigan has about 21,000 acres dedicated to growing blueberries.

5.  People have been eating blueberries for more than 13,000 years.

6.  Blueberries were called “star fruits” by North American indigenous peoples because of the five-pointed star shape that is formed at the blossom end of the berry.

7.  The blueberry is one of the only foods that is truly naturally blue in color. The pigment that gives blueberries their distinctive color—called anthocyanin—is the same compound that provides the blueberry’s amazing health benefits.

8.  Blueberry Pie was brought to the United States by settlers from northern Europe and Scandinavia. The first blueberry pie recipe was documented in the Appledore Cook Book in 1872.

9.  Between our 15 Grand Traverse Pie Company shops, we used an astonishing total of 134,520 pounds of blueberries last year.

10.  National Blueberry Pie Day is celebrated each year on April 28th to honor one of America’s favorite desserts. YUM!

National Arbor Day: April 29, 2022

Broadleaf. Evergreen. Conifer. How well do you really know your trees? Now you have a goal for National Arbor Day.

America’s first Arbor Day took place toward the start of the 1870s — right around the time Congress established Yellowstone National Park. Celebrate nothing less than humanity’s endearment toward nature on April 29, just after Earth Day.

Note: National Arbor Day always falls on the last Friday in April, but many states observe Arbor Day on different dates throughout the year based on their best tree planting times. That varies widely. For example:

Florida — Third Friday in January

Alaska — Third Monday in May

Hawaii — First Friday in November

Find your state’s date here.

Do you have a tree planting ceremony in your area?

May Day 2022: What Is May Day And Why Is It Celebrated?

May Day is a public holiday in some regions, usually celebrated on 1 May or the first Monday of May. It is an ancient festival marking the first day of summer, and a current traditional spring holiday in many European cultures. Dances, singing, and cake are usually part of the festivities. 

Origins and celebrations

The earliest known May celebrations appeared with the Floralia, festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, held from 27 April – 3 May during the Roman Republic era, and the Maiouma or Maiuma, a festival celebrating Dionysus and Aphrodite held every three years during the month of May. The Floralia opened with theatrical performances. In the Floralia, Ovid says that hares and goats were released as part of the festivities. Persius writes that crowds were pelted with vetches, beans, and lupins. A ritual called the Florifertum was performed on either 27 April or 3 May, during which a bundle of wheat ears was carried into a shrine, though it is not clear if this devotion was made to Flora or Ceres. Floralia concluded with competitive events and spectacles, and a sacrifice to Flora.[10]

Maiouma was celebrated at least as early as the 2nd century AD, when records show expenses for the month-long festival were appropriated by Emperor Commodus.According to the 6th-century chronicles of John Malalas, the Maiouma was a "nocturnal dramatic festival, held every three years and known as Orgies, that is, the Mysteries of Dionysus and Aphrodite" and that it was "known as the Maioumas because it is celebrated in the month of May-Artemisios". During this time, enough money was set aside by the government for torches, lights, and other expenses to cover a thirty-day festival of "all-night revels." The Maiouma was celebrated with splendorous banquets and offerings. Its reputation for licentiousness caused it to be suppressed during the reign of Emperor Constantine, though a less debauched version of it was briefly restored during the reigns of Arcadius and Honorius, only to be suppressed again during the same period.

A later May festival celebrated in Germanic countries, Walpurgis Night, commemorates the official canonization of Saint Walpurga on 1 May 870.[13] In Gaelic culture, the evening of April 30th was the celebration of Beltane (which translates to "lucky fire") as well as the similar Welsh Calan Mai, and marks the start of the summer season. First attested in 900 AD, the celebration mainly focused on the symbolic use of fire to bless cattle and other livestock as they were moved to summer pastures. This custom continued into the early 19th century, during which time cattle would be made to jump over fires to protect their milk from being stolen by fairies. People would also leap over the fires for luck.

Since the 18th century, many Roman Catholics have observed May – and May Day – with various May devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In works of art, school skits, and so forth, Mary's head will often be adorned with flowers in a May crowning. 1 May is also one of two feast days of the Catholic patron saint of workers St Joseph the Worker, a carpenter, husband to Mother Mary, and foster father of Jesus.[16] Replacing another feast to St. Joseph, this date was chosen by Pope Pius XII in 1955 as a counterpoint to the communist International Workers' Day celebrations on May Day.

The best known modern May Day traditions, observed both in Europe and North America, include dancing around the maypole and crowning the Queen of May. Fading in popularity since the late 20th century is the tradition of giving of "May baskets," small baskets of sweets or flowers, usually left anonymously on neighbours' doorsteps.

In the late 20th century, many neopagans began reconstructing some of the older pagan festivals and combining them with more recently developed European secular and Catholic traditions, and celebrating May Day as a pagan religious festival.

Do You Remember May Basket Day?

NATIONAL HOAGIE DAY

It may go by many names, but on May 5th, National Hoagie Day celebrates a hero of a sandwich!

Besides a hero, the hoagie goes by several other aliases. The sub, grinder, Italian, torpedo, or baguette are just a few of its many names. Some of those names give a hint as to how we make a hoagie, too. We cut a long Italian roll or French bread lengthwise and fill it with various meats, cheeses, vegetables, seasonings, and sauces. Pile it high with your own combination of fillings and enjoy it either hot or cold.

WHAT IS THE NAME OF YOUR FAVORITE SANDWICH MADE WITH FRENCH BREAD?

HERE IN WISCONSIN WE CALL THEM SUBMARINE SANDWICHES!

About the Word “Hoagie”

In 1953, Italians working at the World War I-era shipyard in Philadelphia known as Hog Island packed their lunch to work every day. They introduced the sandwich by putting different meats, cheeses, and lettuce between two slices of bread. It was referred to as the “Hog Island” sandwich, which they later shortened to the “hoagie.”

A different explanation is offered by the Philadelphia Almanac and Citizen’s Manual. They believe early 20th-century street vendors called “hokey-pokey-men” created the sandwich.

HISTORY OF NATIONAL HOAGIE DAY

Philadelphia is famously known for mouthwatering steak and cheese subs, but did you know the City of Brotherly Love is also famous for another epicurean delight served on a big beautiful bun: the hoagie? It is the humble hoagie of Italian immigrant heritage that holds the title “Official Sandwich of Philadelphia,’ not the steak and cheese sub. 

The traditional Italian hoagie is a generous sandwich of Italian deli meats and cheeses stuffed into a split long roll, brimming with pepperoncini peppers and veggies, topped with a drizzle of olive oil, vinegar, and seasonings. There are no fewer than a dozen credible stories laying claim to who was responsible for inventing the first long bread Italian sandwich in America. Most stories point to the New England states where many Italian immigrants settled in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although whose mama or papa is truly responsible for assembling the first hoagie in Philadelphia will always be up for debate, we do know that hoagie naming rights belong to the city of Philadelphia. 

The most popular story of how the Italian sandwich got the name hoagie in Philadelphia is one cited by the now-defunct “Philadelphia Bulletin,” Philly’s daily evening newspaper published from 1847 to 1982. The paper’s story revolves around the lunch box staple of 1950s Italian immigrant workers in a Philadelphia shipyard known as Hog Island, a long bread roll stuffed with Italian meats and cheeses. The sandwiches were commonly referred to as “Hog Island sandwiches.” The name was eventually shortened to “hoggies,” which, when said with a south Philadelphia accent, sounded more like “hoagies,” and the moniker stuck.

Two other local Philadelphia publications disagreed with the Bulletin’s published story, both insisting that Philadelphia’s hoagie roots could be traced all the way back 1879. According to the Philadelphia Almanac and the Citizen’s Manual,  street vendors known as hokey pokey men sold bakery rolls called pinafores stuffed with antipasto salad and meats to theatre patrons before and after attending the operetta, (light opera,) “H.M.S. Pinafore” by the famed writer-composer duo of Gilbert and Sullivan. The pinafores were commonly referred to as hokies, which again sounded a lot like hoagies in South Philly.

Regardless of who first stuffed all those delicious meats and cheeses into a split Italian long roll, topped it with peppers and drizzled oil and seasonings on top, the name hoagie stuck like the newspaper it was first wrapped with in the city of Philadelphia. By the end of World War II, the term hoagie was quite common on the streets of Philadelphia, and Philly’s favorite sandwich was turning up on restaurant menus all around the city, spelled hoagie, hoggie, hoogie, and hoagy.

As the hoagie’s popularity breached city boundaries and spread to other parts of the country away from the east coast, the term hoagie took on new definitions. Hoagie eventually became a catch-all name for any sandwich served on a long bread roll. In Philadelphia, however, the hoagie remains true to its Italian roots as an Italian meat and cheese sandwich covered with roasted and pickled veggies and peppers, with oil, vinegar, and seasonings topping it all.

May we all take a moment to remember our mothers who have passed over the years.