When I was growing up a penny was worth quite a bit. Shops in my neighborhood featured penny candy – Boston Baked Beans, candy cigarettes, wax lips, Dum Dums, Slo Poke suckers, BB Bats. Five cents bought an assortment of my favorites, and ten cents yielded an impressive stash.
Penny candy is still available, but it now costs a quarter or two. I discovered this when I stopped in at The Candy Shoppe in downtown Jacksonville recently, where I bought a roll of Necco wafers and Necco candy buttons. (Remember them? They are pink, yellow and blue candy dots on a strip of paper. As a first grader, I used to love the combined taste of sugar and paper. These days I prefer my sugar without the paper, but the nostalgia is delicious.)
That evening I opened my roll of Neccos. Each flavor took me back to my childhood – savoring the wafers individually during a Saturday matinee at the Esquire theatre, discovering a roll of Neccos in my Christmas stocking, splurging on Neccos with my hard earned babysitting money. Clove, the light purple disc, remains my favorite, with cinnamon in white a distant second. Unfortunately, the pink ones, which are wintergreen flavored, still taste like Pepto Bismol to me.
Oddly enough, a few days later, Jefferson Public Radio featured a story about Necco wafers. They were created in 1847 on the first American candy machine – a lozenge cutter. By the Civil War, soldiers were tucking wax paper-wrapped rolls of these sugar-dusted wafers in their backpacks. (I have no doubt that about the same time Jacksonville’s first general store featured them as well.) Admiral Byrd is said to have hauled two and a half tons of Necco wafers to the Antarctic, and the US government requisitioned a major portion of Necco’s production to send overseas to troops during World War II. Such an illustrious history is proof positive that there is something sustaining and particularly satisfying about these candies.
Grateful to have a local Necco source, I returned to The Candy Shoppe to buy a few rolls to take to upcoming Britt concerts. This time I stopped long enough to chat with owner Melanie Scofield, whose mission in life is to keep the best part of the past alive and well in Jacksonville. Thanks to her, you can order phosphates, shakes and sundaes made at a vintage soda fountain rescued from Klamath Falls. The shop’s authentic red and white striped candy bags are sent over from the UK. Birthdays can be celebrated with cupcake decorating parties held in a special room in the back. Or if you simply prefer an exuberant trip down memory lane, just step inside and feast your eyes on everything from a rare box of Beemans gum to chilled Coca Cola in the original shapely bottles.
What a joy it was for me to realize that penny candy is worth a whole lot more than what it costs now. After all, sweet memories are priceless.
Gates McKibbin moved to Jacksonville afterworking and living in the Bay Area for three decades as a consultant to major corporations. This column contains her musings about this remarkable community and her new life
far away from the fast lane.