Swiss Village celebrated 40 years of baby day. Pictured is Swiss Village Resident Paul Nussbaum with Jessica Reinhard and her son Harrison, 4 months.
Swiss Village celebrated the 40th anniversary of Baby Day on Wednesday, October 25th. Shirley Neuenschwander, and Judy Dye created baby day in 1977 as a day to celebrate children as well as provide intergenerational programming. This year, 8 babies attended baby day.
Thirty-three babies attend the very first baby day. During the past forty years, 1094 babies from the community have attended baby day, 564 girls and 530 boys. A total of twenty one sets of twins and one set of triplets have participated throughout the years. The youngest baby to ever attend baby day was Elijah Kittle at 9 days in 2014. In 2010 Twins Charis and Christiana Lehman, seven months marked the 1000 and 1001 baby to attend since the beginning in 1977. Swiss Village had the most babies in attendance in 1984.
This year 5 boys and 3 girls from the surrounding community attended this special event. All babies received a special gift made by Swiss Village residents in appreciation of their participation. “This is a tradition for Swiss Village, and it is an honor to be part of such a special day,” said Michelle McIntosh, VP Marketing/PR. “We have had a lot of babies come through baby day over the years. Many of the parents who are now bringing their babies attended at one time as a baby themselves.”
