Candy Dish Blog

This week our Friday Five comes from our intern Kiki, who is excited about being here, as you can tell, and is working closely with our team that puts on our annual Expo. Please give Kiki a warm welcome.

Since I am one of the few people at the NCA who will be attending the SWEETS & SNACKS EXPO™ for the first time, I have incredibly high hopes for it. When I talk about it with my friends, we are imagining a combined world of Willy Wonka’s factory and the board game Candy Land. They’re all insanely jealous, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to triple check my suitcase for stowaways before I leave.

Anyway, Carl wanted me to write down my top five amazing things I am expecting to see at the Expo. Like I said, I have high hopes, and I will not be talked out of any of these.

1. John Candy. Okay, he’s dead, but I can dream, right?
2. Cotton Candy Trees. Listen, they already look like trees. And what could be more perfect than a walkway of cotton candy trees leading up to McCormick Place? Sometimes you get a sugar craving before you even get into the Expo, so BAM, problem solved.
3. A petting zoo. Filled with life-sized gummi bears, Peeps, sour gummi worms, Sluggles, chocolate Easter bunnies, and gummi sharks. What could be more amazing or cuddly and delicious than candy animals?
4. An obstacle course of the board game Candy Land. To get to the Candy Castle, you have to find/eat your way through the Gingerbread Plum Trees, Peppermint Forest, Licorice Castle, Lollipop Woods, Gumdrop Mountains and so on. Only then will the business deals between buyers, suppliers and exhibitors go through. It may not be practical, but it’s way more entertaining than normal networking.
5. A Chocolate River. Carl has been trying to convince me that this does not exist at the Expo. I know he’s wrong, and I refuse to change my mind—he just never looked hard enough. I am determined to search for the chocolate river while at the Expo, and if Carl would stop making the Oompa-Loompas give him rides around the office I could get them to help me as well. By May 27, I will know the secret location of the chocolate river. Mark my words.

That being said, I am not crazy. I don’t expect any of these things to actually exist (except for the chocolate river, which I am serious about finding).