In celebration of 70 years of baking Sunbeam Bread, AroundFortWayne journeys back to 2007 when the iconic downtown Sunbeam Bread sign celebrated 50th years.
Links to photo galleries of the Sunbeam Bread sign are at the end of this post.
50th Birthday on September 7, 2007
First installed: September 7, 1957
Slices in the rotating display: 9
Slices that will have fallen by 9/7/2007: 685,565,217 approximately
Time for a slice to fall: 2.3 seconds
Sign commissioned by: H. Leslie Popp, Jr.
Company headquartered in Fort Wayne since: 1901
Restoration by: Creative Sign Resources
50th Birthday Celebration
A half-size replica of the Sunbeam Bread sign was featured on a float in the Three River’s Festival parade on July 14, 2007. “Where in Fort Wayne is the Sunbeam sign” promotion was held July 23rd to August 10th. The replica sign was placed on the rooftops of various landmarks around Fort Wayne. At 8:10 AM daily, Majic 95.1 WAJI opened their phone lines and the first person to call in and correctly identify the location won a prize!
On Friday, September 7, 2007, a birthday party was held for the sign in the parking lot of Perfection Bakeries between Main and Pearl Street. Birthday Cake, Free Bread and T-Shirts were given away.
– above information taken from a company press release.
Related weblinks
- Aunt Millie’s Bakeries website
- Photos of the Sunbeam Bread replica sign in various locations around Fort Wayne Indiana for the, “Where in the World is the Sunbeam Bread sign?” contest
- Photos of the Sunbeam Bread sign before, during, and after restoration.