The Candy Store, Part Two

Business was pretty good for a new start-up.

Friends and relatives, of course, and people from the neighborhood.  I went to craft shows with the fancy candy dishes and solid chocolate greeting cards.  The best seller, though, was the chocolate pizza. (A rocky road base, drizzled with white chocolate and other goodies. Yum.)  I rented costumes, and persuaded the jeweler and one of the barbers to wear them to nursing homes and the school where we visited and passed out treats.  I rode on the WBA float, "Puttin' On The Ritz", tossing Tootsie Rolls to the crowds.  My kids rode in the Cherry Festival parade, a biggie in these parts.  We had lots of fun.

One day, the jeweler and I were putting the final touches on the float for the Memorial Day parade.  The sky turned an awful color, like brass.  The wind howled and it hailed sideways.  It wasn't until later that we learned a tornado had passed over us and hit a neighboring community. Eleven people died there.  The storm continued through several other towns over a stretch of a hundred miles or more,  It is not a day any of us want to relive.

Finally it was just too much.  Summers were hard.  Wesleyville wasn't enough to sustain me.  The competition from the big candy makers was tough.  The cost of sugar and chocolate had skyrocketed by 1986, doubling in only three years,  Utilities were high, too.  I had two small children.  I couldn't afford hired help.  I gave up.

Reluctantly I closed the door for the last time.  I cried a lot.  I recognized my mistakes and would not repeat them.  I joined a friend's business, and that worked until she decided to close her doors, too.  I went to work selling furniture, found a niche, and have been selling ever since.

I still miss the candy business--the kids, the senior who helped me out on Thursdays, the other business owners, the smell of peppermint and chocolate and peanut butter fondant and fudge.  I miss being a part of the community.  I have forgotten more about candy-making than most people will learn in a lifetime.

If you ever want me to make cordials filled with pineapple soaked in bourbon, special Easter eggs with money inside or chocolate pizza--I've done that. (I sold so many chocolate pizzas that others started copying my idea!)

I've still got the magic touch.