Mary Ellen Hunt
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Move over, Willy Wonka. The Chocolate Factory might be fun, but for a truly scrumdiddlyumptious outing mixed in with a bit of sticker creativity, check out the Jelly Belly Factory's Stickerpalooza, which started on Wednesday and runs through Friday at the factory's Fairfield (Solano County) location.
Although the factory tour is a memorable and fun trip for the family, lines for it can be long during spring break. But if you have an intrepid member of your party who's willing to wait in the tour line, the rest of your group can have fun with Stickerpalooza, says Barbara Marino, a spokesperson for Mrs. Grossman's. The beloved Petaluma sticker company, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, is bringing a bit of sticker fun to the candy factory. It certainly beats staring at the jelly-bean portrait of Ronald Reagan for half an hour.
For a dollar, youngsters will receive a kit with a random assortment of stickers. Mrs. Grossman's boasts more than 700 sticker designs, from baseball to ballerinas to rocket ships to dinosaurs. A mini-sticker store at the Jelly Belly factory offers a variety of options if the kids want to branch out. Marino adds that the paper Jelly Belly hat that everyone gets at the start of the factory tour makes an excellent canvas for sticker art.
As for the Jelly Belly factory tour itself, kids can see where more than 30 tons of Jelly Bellies are made each day. The entire factory floor is stroller and wheelchair accessible, and the tours, which leave every 15 minutes, are about 40 minutes long.
After the tour, hit the free sample bar where you can taste hundreds of delectable flavors, including new ones such as pomegranate and Cold Stone Creamery ice cream flavors, as well as the classics that made Jelly Belly famous like Very Cherry, Root Beer, Cream Soda, Tangerine, Green Apple, Lemon, Licorice and Grape.
See the complete story at SFGate.com.
