Arts & Entertainment

How Sweet It Is! Two Centuries of Candy at Clayton Historical Society

"Yum, Yum, Bubble Gum" exhibit opens Sunday at the CHS Museum

It started when someone donated an old-time candy display case to the .

The donation got Mary Spryer thinking. (She's one of the museum's two curators.) The more she mulled, the more she liked the idea of an exhibit that would put the display case to its original use. And the more she researched, the more connections between Clayton and candy she found.

Consider:

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• If you walk on Cardinet Drive or stroll along the George Cardinet Trail, your footsteps honor the late George Hugh Cardinet Jr., a long-time Clayton area resident who was also president of the Cardinet Candy Co., original maker of the U-NO bar.

• Clayton is currently home to Elaine's Toffee Co., a family-owned business that purveys English toffee based on a recipe handed down through the generations.

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• Patrick Hyde of Hyde Printing and Graphics, a Clayton resident, is a dedicated collector of M&Ms memorabilia.

These strands, and more, come together in the new exhibit Spryer has put together for the museum, Yum, Yum, Bubble Gum, a celebration of candy in the United States since the 1800s.

The exhibit opens Sunday, Nov. 20, 1 to 4 p.m. at the CHS Museum, 6101 Main St. It remains on display through May, 2012, with seasonal changes for Christmas, Valentine's Day and Easter — all holidays where candy has a special role to play.

"It's a fun, colorful exhibit," Spryer said. Along with the displays, there will be candy-themed music playing, the 1971 version of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on video, candy for sale in the museum's gift shop and a small sweet treat for each visitor.

The candy display case, which Spryer thinks dates to the early 1900s, will take center stage, along with some of Hyde's M&Ms collection, toy tin trucks from See's Candies and other items on loan to the museum.

You will learn also "fun facts" about candy, many of them researched by student docents from .

The museum is open to the public from 2 to 4 p.m. Sundays and Wednesdays. Admission is free. For more information, visit the Clayton Historical Society website.


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