Happy birthday, Faygo!

On Monday, Detroit beverage company-Faygo celebrated a major milestone: its 100th birthday. Happy birthday, Faygo!

What's Faygo?

If you're from Detroit, you need no intro to Faygo -- you grew up with the company's unique carbonated beverages and, if you're old enough, may even remember the 'Faygo Kid' commercials of the 1950s.

Didn't grow up in the D? Here's a little backgrounder on the beloved local company that gave us gems like Rock & Rye and Redpop; pioneered the one-way bottle; and is responsible for introducing the word 'pop' into Midwest vernacular (now we just need to figure out where 'tennis shoes' came from).

On November 4, 1907 immigrant bakers Ben and Perry Feigenson created Feigenson Brothers Bottling Works in Detroit, Michigan. The brothers cut the company name to Faygo in the 1920s because Feigenson Brothers Bottling Works was too long to print on bottles. Ben and Perry sold their cake-inspired products first by horse and buggy, and later purchased a truck for door-to-door selling.

In 1937, they further amped-up production of Faygo when they moved into a large facility on Gratiot Avenue in Detroit. Although Faygo was purchased by National Beverage Group of Fort Lauderdale in 1987, the Gratiot Avenue location still serves as Faygo's bottling plant and headquarters today.

Faygo in the Millenium

For the past year, Faygo has commemorated its 100th birthday with a variety of fun activities and contests. Participants of the "What's Your Recipe?" competition were asked to submit recipes that used Faygo as the main ingredient, and the "Create a Flavor" contest invited consumers to submit an idea for a new Faygo flavor, and design a matching label. Winning "What's Your Recipe" dishes can be found in Faygo's Centennial Recipe Book, for sale for $9.95 on Faygo's website, while the top "Create a Flavor" entry can be found on store shelves as Faygo's newest flavor, Centennial Soda.

Visit Faygo's website for more history, a full listing of Faygo products, and to find out where Faygo is available near you.

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