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.
- John Candy. Okay, he’s dead, but I can dream, right?
- 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.
- 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?
- 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.
- 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).
I saw this motorcycle outside the National Gallery of Art a while back and had to wonder, since it would obviously candy-flavored in the magical world where vehicles are made from food, does it taste like orange or banana? Because, as you can tell, it just might be of a circus peanut theme happening there.
More important, it makes me think of summer and warmer climes, whose sun-drenched vistas could warm me and pull me out of this December chill. Granted, this plush carpet high-nap rug-plated motorcycle is not quite as obviously branded as the Jelly Belly bike and other motorcycles we saw at the ALL CANDY EXPO this year, but we can always take a guess. What do you think? Here’s what we saw in Chicago in May:
Jelly Belly
Sunkist
Icee
I picked up this giant foam finger from the Silly Ice Cream booth at the All Candy Expo last week. Silly Ice Cream is freeze dried ice cream pellets. It tastes like ice cream, looks like the inside of a bean bag and doesn’t melt in your hand, making it possibly one of the coolest inventions since, well, the giant foam finger.
This advertising tool is a classic because of its universal appeal. You can’t help but smile when you look at it and feel a positive sort of envy for people who sport them. As I approached the Silly Ice Cream booth, all I saw was elbows from people grabbing a foam finger to take with them. In fact, I purposely sought out this booth because of the finger. At any show, there’s the wow effect of, “I need that,” and the finger satisfied that role.
Granted, the foam finger does not sell the product, but it is sitting on top of my desk, and I am sure it is livening up the desks and offices of actual buyers and brokers, who went home with these too. It is a constant reminder of the product, which is exactly what the advertiser wants. In my book, this is a great way to advertise.
That’s Laura, in the photo. She was a good enough sport to model the foam finger for me. As a new hire, our new manager of regulatory and technical affairs, she got to start her job at the Expo, which must have been a great way to start off. Best of all, she is still feeling out the social makeup of the office and thus did not have the heart to tell me to get lost when I approached her with the giant foam finger.
The only thing that could make that finger better would be if it were edible, maybe made from licorice or marshmallow. Yum – marshmallow foam finger!
What flavor would you like to see this come in?
The day is dreary here in DC, with rain pelting the red brick of Georgetown, and making the muddy, swollen streams flow the color of a medium hot chocolate. It all makes me wonder: was it a dream? Was the All Candy Expo all just some wild candy-encrusted fantasy or did it really happen? I guess there’s the proof in the candy giveaway we are wrapping up, along with the hour-long post-show meeting we had this morning here at NCA, but it seems so long ago and remote, like a daydream, like that moment between sleep and wakefulness that John Keats described in his Ode to a Nightingale or that elation Homer Simpson feels in the “Land of Chocolate” episode.
Even looking at the photos is a problem, as it looks larger than life:
Of course it was real – it did happen – but as it was my first Expo, it was a bit dreamlike, so forgive me if I go on a bit about it. And forgive me, John Keats, my favorite of all romantic poets, if you are rolling over in your grave at being mentioned in the same sentence as Homer Simpson.
In front of McCormick Place, where the All Candy Expo took place this week, I was always amused by this giant M&M, which was tethered to sand bags to keep it from blowing away in the windy city. It almost looked like he was being restrained, which was sad, but at the same time, we don’t need giant M&Ms wandering around, as loving and friendly as I am sure they are.
So – what did you do this week that was fun and exciting? Did you sign up for our massive candy giveaway yet?
Need I say more? I think this photo says it all. We had a great show this year and I can’t wait to get home. As this is being published, I am probably in a cab on the way to the airport, ready to get home and hit the rack. We appreciate all our exhibitors, sponsors, attendees and of course all the consumers. This show is for industry professionals but the consumers are really what make this a success, as the companies all strive to make great products and fill niches in the market. It’s you we love and for you that we do this.
We have lots of photos in our Flickr account and in the group Flickr pool, so go check them out. Also don’t forget to enter our contest and win some of the fun new candy we got to see at the show.
I was fortunate to run into Denise Ryan of Firestar Speaking and Motivation by Chocolate, who knows my tastes well. Had I seen the Goo Goo Clusters? Did I try the peanut butter one yet? Denise was full of questions and promptly led me to the right booth.
Goo Goo Clusters are one of those old-time candies that used to be more widely available but is now more of a regional confection, and a time-honored taste of the South. At my boyhood home of Raleigh, NC, we used to snack on these little clusters of goodness and I was excited to see them again. Thanks, Denise, for knowing what I needed to give me a little boost as I toured the show floor with my many pounds of camera equipment.
Then she showed me what I can only describe as the mother load of circus peanuts, like I had never seen before. A rainbow of colors, the smell of bananas and all manner of deliciousness. Many thanks to Hello Cupcake for hosting these little nuggets of wholesomeness. If there is a heaven, it might be right there.
Curious what the All Candy Expo show floor looks like? Keep checking our Flickr account and our All Candy Expo Flickr group. If you are here and taking photos, please put your photos in the group as well. Also, stop by the NCA booth (#511) to stop and say hello. Also, remember to enter our contest to win a whole mess of candy.
