Happy Gummi Worm Day!

July 15th, is Gummi Worm Day, as listed at the National Confectioners Association website. Just when you thought all holidays weren't commercial, we make such an announcement! However, we don't celebrate Gummi Worm Day for its crass consumerism -- no, there is ingenuity to admire here. (And who doesn't want a reason to eat Gummi Worms?)
There likely wouldn't be a Gummi Worm Day if it weren't for Gummi Bears. The Gummi Bear, or Gummibärchen, is a German creation. Invented by Hans Riegel, a candy maker from Bonn, Germany, in 1922, the story goes that Riegel and his wife, Gertrud, noticed the popularity of a gelatin fruit candy that other candy companies were selling. Looking for a competitive edge to enter the market with their own fruity gelatin candy, they thought, "What would children like?" And dancing bears was the answer.
Therefore, HARIBO began to mold the fruit flavored gelatin into the form of a dancing bear. The original bears were taller and thinner than the little chubby bears of today (a 1950's update), and they became popular among the children of Bonn. So popular that only one year later the Riegels made a "risky" investment in a car so that Gertrud needed to no longer deliver the daily 200 pounds of dancing bear candy on her bicycle.
The Riegels need not have worried, for the launch of Gummi Bears eventually lead to a family fortune. Such a fortune only occurred because the Riegels been correct that bear candy makes us happy!
Gummi Worms themselves were born of similar creativity. In 1981, another German candy company, Mederer Corporation, was looking for a new way to market gummy candies. Their idea was to create a candy that parents would find mildly shocking, but that kids would love. They hit upon the idea of Gummi Worms, and sold them under the Trolli name.