National Pie Day is a celebration of pies that occurs annually in the United States on January 23. It started in the mid-1970s by Boulder, Colorado teacher Charlie Papazian [1] after he declared his own birthday, January 23, to be National Pie Day. [2] Since 1986, National Pie Day is sponsored by the American Pie Council. [3]
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In 2014, the American Pie Council partnered with Paramount Pictures in promoting the romantic thriller film Labor Day in conjunction with National Pie Day. [4] A pie-making scene features prominently in the film, and the film's general release was within a few days of National Pie Day.
The APC distributed a promotional poster to pie shops and bakeries featuring images of the film's stars Kate Winslet, Josh Brolin, and Gattlin Griffith in the pie-making scene. The poster is captioned, in part, "It makes the time we spend together, just a little sweeter. Pie. Grab a slice of life."[ citation needed ]
Notwithstanding any problematic overtones, though, Variety's take on the scene was "What damage [the 1999 film] American Pie did for the pie industry, Labor Day has reversed." [4]