Swanson Christian Products marked its 75th anniversary with an inflatable cake, logo-bearing candy bars handed out to conventioneers and a ribbon-cutting, but the real celebration was going on behind the scenes.

The pioneer gift company has been enjoying record sales since launching its line of novelty Faithbands earlier in the year. Around 30 million of the shaped elastic wristbands featuring religious symbols have been sold.

The Murfreesboro, Tenn.-based business plans to introduce in the near future a line of rings similar to the bands, featuring some of the most popular wristband designs that include Christmas and Noah's Ark sets.

"They are one of those products that come along just once every 10 or 15 years," said Vice President of Operations John McKinney, who noted that all other Swanson lines had seen a spike in sales as a result of people contacting the company looking for the Faithbands.

Joseph Swanson, whose father founded the business in 1935, was on hand to recall the company's presence at every CBA summer show since the first one 61 years ago and its sale to his son, Adam, who turned it into a nonprofit venture in 2004.

New from Swanson at the show is a line of children's books, with more than 30 titles, including small Bibles with handles, puzzle books and sticker books. "This is a totally new direction," said McKinney. "Swanson offered some Bibles years ago, but has not been in the print business for over 20 years."

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