My favorites were the sour cherry balls on the right and ju ju nickles. When I was young we would bike up to Widman’s Candy to have a fountain drink like lime cokes and cherry cokes. Sometimes we would get a malted milk. We’d linger in the back reading the comics. Sometimes there would be a rowdy table of boys that would shoot spitballs at us with the paper straws.
When we take a visit back to the small town where I grew up we often bring our kids to pick out some candy. It’s makes me happy to see my kids doing pondering the long glass case with the colorful trays of candies on display. My dad is standing at the counter to the right of the door waiting in the same place he has waited for over 40 years, leaning on the counter chatting with someone.
It always takes awhile to decide. The colors and the smells of warm caramel and melted chocolate warm the air. It’s hard to take it all in and narrow your decisions.
Mr. Widman still has about the same amount of controlled patience as I remember waiting for us all to decide. Can you imagine a lifetime of measuring small brown bags of candy out for each customer? And, then all the changes and indecision?
I wonder if he remembers us all lounging in the tall white wooden booths, our heavy boots dripping with slush, and our frosted and melting caps and mittens under the table as our frozen hands spilled out our bounty of treats. Or, does he recall our bikes staggered, falling and crowding up the sidewalk in front? Or our flushed cheeks from a hot summer afternoon as we leaned in too far over the soda counter fountain spying to see what was hidden behind it.
Much of it is as I remember ~the smells ~the colors~the meeting place. The same man behind the counter.
Wiman’s Candy Shop in my hometown turned 100 years old this past January 2011. I don’t know how much past 100 it will linger. I see bits and pieces are missing ~ the old wooden booths are gone from the back. This time back I snapped some pictures with my family for some memories. When I think of candy – nothing is more fancy in my memory than – Widman’s.
Please leave a comment ~ we’d love to hear if you had a favorite childhood, candy shop or candy memory! Did you like licorice, chocolate or sour cherry balls like me? Or ~ add your post around the theme of Candy ~ recipes or inspiration!
