I hope it "burst your bubble" to learn that bubble gum can be a good thing. Yes, I know that it's bad for human teeth and that it gets stuck on everything, including in your hair but on this one day, bubble gum actually does some good. Bubble Gum Day helps supports schools and the charities they support. How does this sugary stretchy gum do that? In schools that celebrate Bubble Gum Day, students pay 50 cents to be allowed to chew gum in class. The money is collected and is donated back to the school and/or its favorite charities. Pretty cool, eh? I know my little brother's class raises a ton of money this way and the tadpoles and froglets really enjoy being able to chew gum while they're in school. It's only one day a year and most moms agree that it's a great way to get kids interested in helping out good causes.
Long before chewing gum formed bubbles, ancient humans chewed bits of resin from trees. All around the world, people collected the resin substance from available trees and used it for not only for dental care but also for enjoyment.
After decades of failure by inventors before him, Walter Diemer created the first bubble-producing gum in 1928. Mr. Diemer worked for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His crazy invention was marketed at Double Bubble and it is still available today. In my mind, if you want to chew bubblegum, it ought to be Double Bubble. The original is still the best.
On 24 April in 2004 a student named Chad Fell from the Double Springs High School in Haleyville, Alabama blew a record-breaking bubble using three pieces of, you guessed it, Double Bubble bubblegum. Just how big was his bubble? It measured an astounding 20 inches in diameter (50.8 centimeters)!
In 2006 children's author Ruth Spiro founded Bubble Gum Day as a fun way for kids to participate in school fundraising. How to celebrate? Grab some gum and a few quarters, chew away and raise money for your local school. Don't forget to post pictures of your big bubbles on social media using #BubbleGumDay.
That does it for me this week. I hope you have a little fun this weekend. Do your plans include a Super Bowl party? I'm not a football fan, but I do enjoy watching the great commercials that get debuted each Super Bowl Sunday. Whatever your plans include, please stay safe and I invite you to join me back here again on Monday. Until then,