Published:
Mother's Day Marks Its 100th Anniversary in 2008: Philadelphia Resident Anna Jarvis Conceived National Holiday
PHILADELPHIA, May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- To mark the 100th anniversary of
Mother's Day, started byPhiladelphia resident andWest Virginia native Anna
Jarvis to honor her mother Anna Marie, the Greater Philadelphia Tourism
Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) and the Office of the City Representative are
organizing the "City of Motherly Love" celebration on Friday, May 9, 2008. The
open-to-the public event will take place at 12:00 noon at the Wanamaker
Building, where the first Mother's Day celebration took place in 1908 thanks
toPhiladelphia entrepreneur John Wanamaker. (Another Mother's Day
commemoration took place simultaneously inWest Virginia.) The building is
located at 13th and Market Streets and is now home to Macy'sCenter City.
The event will begin with a musical tribute to Jarvis on the Wanamaker
Organ, complete with 28,541 pipes, in Macy's Grand Court.Philadelphia's Tasty
Baking Company, makers of the Tastykake(R) snack line, will present a special
cake created from various icon products and featuring the Mother's Day
historical marker. And as a special tribute toPhiladelphia, Southwest
Airlines will give away southwestgiftcards(TM) valued at $100 each courtesy of
the Southwest Airlines Visa Card from Chase. (Details on how to win them will
be announced at the event.) In addition, Philadelphians who apply for the
Southwest Airlines Visa card at the event will enjoy a limited time offer of a
free roundtrip flight after their first purchase with the card.
To add to the celebration, Robertson's Flowers will decorate the historic
marker that commemorates Anna Jarvis and Mother's Day located outside the
Wanamaker Building. Mayor Michael Nutter, on behalf of theCity of
Philadelphia, will issue a proclamation as a tribute to the 82 million U.S.
moms (source: U.S. Census) who will celebrate Mother's Day in 2008. In
addition, a giant bouquet of white carnations and roses will be placed at the
gravesites of Anna Jarvis and her mother atPhiladelphia's historic West
Laurel Hill Cemetery on Friday, May 9. Jarvis' mother passed away on May 9,
1905 at the age of 72, and Anna died November 24, 1948.
The first Mother's Day celebrations occurred simultaneously in
Philadelphia andWest Virginia on May 10, 1908, and that year a bill was
submitted to Congress to declare it a national holiday. In 1914, Mother's Day
gained official national holiday designation.
Visuals Available: Mother's Day historic marker adorned with flowers, Anna
Jarvis' gravestone and Mother's Day celebration at Macy's.
The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) makes
Philadelphia and The Countryside(R) a premier destination through marketing
and image building that increases business and promotes the region's vitality.
For more information about travel toPhiladelphia, visit www.gophila.com or
call the Independence Visitor Center, located in Independence National
Historical Park, at (800) 537-7676.
Note to Editors: For high-resolution photos ofGreater Philadelphia, visit
the photo gallery of www.gophila.com/pressroom.
SOURCE Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation
Copyright © 2008, PRNewswire
Copyright © 2008, NewsBlaze,
Daily NewsTags: ,REA,ENT,WOM,PA-Phila-Mothers-Day
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