Smile And Help Worcester Set A Guinness World Record
Smile! Take a picture of yours and you can help Worcester get in the Guinness Book of World Records. So World Smile Day is on October 6th, and the Worcester Historical Museum wants to break a record by then. To do that they’ll need your help, and all you have to do is smile.
So what’s up with Worcester and the Guinness World Record?
The Worcester Historical Museum is attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the most smiles. The goal is to have the pictures of 20,000 people’s smiles.
Why are they doing it?
The museum has teamed up with a nonprofit organization called Smile Train. They are “the largest cleft-focused organization with a model of true sustainability — providing training, funding, and resources to empower local medical professionals in 70+ countries to provide 100%-free cleft surgery and other forms of essential cleft care in their own communities.”
Why Worcester?
Not sure if you knew this or not, but Worcester is home to the man who invented the Smiley face. His name was Harvey Ball and he was a commercial artist who invented the symbol in 1963. Over the years, he started to be bothered by the over-commercialization of the smiley, and felt like its original impact had gotten lost. He created the image when he was commissioned to create a graphic to raise morale among the employees of an insurance company. This was after a series of difficult mergers and acquisitions.
More on Harvey and some smiley drama
The interesting thing? He finished the design in less than 10 minutes, and was paid $45 dollars for it. He invented World Smile Day for people to do something kind to make someone else smile. The first one was in 1999, and is the first Friday in October every year. Apparently there’s some drama around the story where a guy in France claims he did it. I’m sticking with Harvey Ball, but you can read Who Really Invented The Smiley Face?
How do I help Worcester?
To help them get to their 20,000 smiles, all you have to do is take a picture of your smile and upload it HERE. Easy right? Good luck Worcester! We’re rooting (and smiling) for you!
