National Fruitcake Toss Day

 The Great Fruitcake Toss started humbly in Manitou Springs, Colorado, in 1996.

It began as a post-holiday gathering where locals simply wanted a playful way to dispose of unwanted fruitcakes. However, the event quickly caught the community’s attention.

People brought friends and family, adding their own twists with costumes, themed launches, and, eventually, even specialized equipment like slingshots.

By the early 2000s, engineers and tech enthusiasts joined in, designing elaborate contraptions to set distance records.

This quirky tradition transformed into a full-scale annual festival, with various competitions and activities that continue to draw crowds each January​.

Fruitcakes are famously long-lasting due to their dense ingredients and high alcohol content, which act as natural preservatives.

In fact, there’s a fruitcake from President Grover Cleveland’s 1886 wedding that’s still intact in Caldwell, New Jersey! This reputation for longevity has made fruitcakes a quirky target for tossing​.

In Manitou Springs, engineers from tech companies like Boeing have brought high-tech flair to the event, using mechanical launchers to fling fruitcakes as far as possible.

This not only adds a competitive edge but also allows engineers to test their skills in a playful, non-traditional way​.

Fruitcakes used in the competition don’t go to waste. Manitou Springs donates leftover cakes to a local farm for composting or livestock feed, blending fun with sustainability.

This practice underscores the quirky, eco-friendly spirit of the celebration​.

While fruitcake tossing is mostly an American tradition, similar events exist globally.

In Japan, for example, people celebrate “Bean Throwing Day” by tossing soybeans to ward off evil. Both events use food in a playful way to mark the end of a season, mixing fun with cultural significance​.

One popular myth is that fruitcakes were once made to last through winter famines or long journeys at sea.

While their dense composition does make them resilient, their durability is more a side effect of ingredients than necessity.

This long shelf life fuels both fruitcake re-gifting and fruitcake tossing traditions​.

Fruitcake tossers experiment with everything from underhand throws to catapults.

For accuracy, contestants often aim for a bullseye target at set distances.

Some people even claim that a spiral throw, similar to a football toss, can add extra distance, turning the event into a fun physics experiment​.

Serious participants sometimes train by practicing with heavy weights or outdated cakes.

Others spend time building custom slingshots or mini-catapults. This quirky “training” culture adds an element of excitement and friendly rivalry to the event, as competitors seek the perfect throw​.

Fruitcakes gained their re-gifting reputation partly because they’re heavy, dense, and not universally loved.

Historically, they’ve been passed along because they remain “good” for so long. Tossing them, instead of re-gifting, flips this tradition, turning a potentially unwanted gift into a fun, shared activity​.

Yes! The Smithsonian has a fruitcake from the Apollo 12 mission in 1969, preserved as a quirky piece of space history.

This cake survived space travel and remains on display, proving the unusual durability that has made fruitcakes a lasting part of folklore​.