WORCESTER, Mass. - Each year, the first Friday of October marks World Smile Day. Created in 1999 by the late Worcester artist Harvey Ball, the holiday asks people across the world to make random acts of kindness. 

When Harvey Ball created the iconic smiley face symbol in 1963, he sold it for 45 dollars and never attempted to trademark it. By the 1990s, Harvey's sunny yellow creation was popping up everywhere, but he wasn't upset about missed profits. Instead, he feared all the popularity was distracting from the symbol's underlying message to be kind.

His solution was World Smile Day, and although Harvey passed away in 2001, his legacy lives on through thousands of others.

"It has spread, it’s really gratifying," Charles Ball, Harvey's son, said. "My dad didn’t live long enough to see it obviously, but since 1999, it’s gone everywhere, it’s gone worldwide."

Charles said more than 50,000 World Smile Day stickers have been sent out across Worcester. The holiday is held on a weekday because Harvey believed a smile goes a long way in schools and the workplace. 

“I’ve heard from many, many people over the years, teachers especially," Charles said. "They e-mail me, especially this time of year, from England, Europe, Asia, saying 'This is what I’m going to do with my kids this year for World Smile Day.'"

At Charles' alma mater, Worcester State University, the celebration was in full swing, complete with a new display at the school's wellness center. 

“Many people come through the wellness center, we have classes in here, so it's a great place in the lobby to see a smile and hopefully brighten someone’s day," associate athletic director Karen Tessmer said. "Telling people to do a random act and put a smile on someone’s face along with some smiley stickers. We have some of our wellness center staff here who are passing out the stickers to anyone who comes in and trying to bring a smile to people’s face.”

2022 has been particularly special, because random acts of kindness for the previous two World Smile Day holidays were hard to pull off in person due to COVID-19.

"It is a grand return," Charles said. "Yes, we lost a couple years to COVID, but we hung in, certainly the sentiment is the same and people have hung in with us.”