Airport Plaza Jewelers gifts gold, silver jewelry to Leap Year babies

CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WIVB) -- In honor of Leap Day, Don Hoffman of Airport Plaza Jewelers gave away free jewelry to those born on Feb. 29.

Hoffman gifted solid gold and sterling silver pieces ranging in value from $349 to $499. Those who visited the showroom with a valid I.D. between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Thursday received their free gift with no purchase necessary.

"We awarded over $100,000 in prizes [from a promotion] last year. We like the idea of the giving thing. Why not?" said Hoffman. "It just seemed like fun. A couple weeks ago, the Leap Year coming up -- well, that's even before the eclipse. I said, we gotta be able to do something fun with that."

By the end of the day, nearly 150 people showed up to claim their prize, totaling over $50,000 of retail value.

Hoffman also gave a $529 jewelry gift certificate to the mother of the first Leap Day baby born this year, and donated $529 to The Children's Hospital of Buffalo Foundation.

A Leap Day only comes around once every four years. Due to the Earth's imperfect orbit, we don't go fully around the sun in 365 days. Instead, it takes 365 days and more than five hours; therefore, every four years, a day gets added. Without the Leap Day, the calendar would eventually become off and the seasons would be unaligned.

Hoffman founded Airport Plaza Jewelers in 1996 and moved its location to the "Showroom" in Cheektowaga in 2012. The store buys and repairs gold and silver jewelry to be sold to the public and was named "Small Business of the Year" in 2023 by the Cheektowaga Chamber of Commerce.