Archive for April, 2009

The first Saturday in May is always the official running of the Kentucky Derby.  What a big day for big hats, fast horses and mint julep’s

To me, it’s the most exciting 2 minutes in championship sports. Think about it, this isn’t a 4 hour Super Bowl, or the never ending World Series, or even the rough and tumble Stanley Cup Championship. This event is almost over as soon as the clock starts!

Yep,  this is my kind of sport, short and sweet! Where else can you wear the craziest of hats and it doesn’t matter!  They can be short, tall, wide or even skinny And there is no one going to be yelling at you,  ‘down in front”. lol

 I don’t mean those big Mexican Hats, I mean those big fancy  floppy hats that get you the sweetest attention!

Guys this is also a good day for you!   Where else can you get away with walking around at a major sporting event filled with thousands of people carring around a beverage with a cute green plant hanging out over the top?

This year it will be interesting to see  if this event still draws the thousands of people it normally does.  If you are one of the thousands actually at Church Hill Downs or watching from home,  just remember,  those  exciting 2 sweet moments in sports  could unwittingly become the most blurry two minutes if you don’t enjoy our Mint Julep’s  instead of theirs!

You might have to work here to understand why I compared our candy company to a circus, but let’s just say, it gets very busy with lots going on in all corners of our operation and we often say  “ It’s a Circus in here lol.
 Much like all the acts that go on during a busy Circus, our company operates about the same way. We have our own ticket takers, clowns, acrobats, animal trainers, jugglers, concession workers and even a few strongmen.

Our ticket takers are the sweet people that answer our phones and take your order and help you find what you need. Our clowns, well… let’s just say they keep all of us laughing through out the day with their various tricks they do. Our acrobats pretty much walk a tight rope and try to find space in our warehouses to store all our candy we get in from the manufactures. The jugglers aren’t throwing balls up in the air, but they are running from desk to desk trying to catch the overflow when someone’s busy. The strongmen are just that, they unload truck after truck by hand of full cases of bubble gum, snack foods, candy bars. Next is our animal trainers, we have some employees that donate a lot of their time to Animal Rescue groups. Last but not the least our candy concession workers. Yes, we have the cotton candy, peanuts, cracker jacks, popcorn and even snow cone stuff to sell that you also find and enjoy at the circus.
 Our teams of concession workers pick and pack up these treats for everyone to enjoy!

As I was writing this blog today, something else came to mind. Our Circus that comes to town is sponsored and hosted by our Jaffa Shrine Organization. A lot of the proceeds they make from their Circus get donated to various children’s organizations to help them out. At Blair Candy, we also use some of the profits we make from our very own Circus Seasons and donate to many organizations and children’s events.

We are a big sponsor of area youth sports teams and non profit organizations. From Baseball leagues, Basketball teams to Relay for Life and our local soup kitchen.
 All of our sweet treats we sell also help many in need, just like our local Circus Sponsor.

If you want to enjoy a little old fashion nostalgic fun, visit the circus, grab some cotton candy, watch the Elephants dance and the clowns be silly or you can visit our online candy store, or our outlet candy  store here in town and enjoy some Nostalgic candy. If you’re lucky maybe even one of our “strongmen” will show off for you!

With the Easter Bunny about to hop into most of our homes, I thought it was a good time to remind pet owners about the dangers in giving your pet chocolates.

Keep in mind , the worst thing a chocolate egg can do to most of us is add an inch or two to our waist, but to a dog or cat, it can make them very sick and poison them. Chocolate contains a chemical called Theobromine and pets have a real problem trying to metabolize it. It begins to builds up in their system and at times can cause the pet to go into cardiac arrest.

Those Easter candy baskets the bunny brings  look just as good to our family pets, so use caution when leaving any chocolate candy around.

I did some research to see just how much chocolate it would take to cause your pet serious problems and it seems the amount of chocolate it takes to make your dog sick depends on the kind of chocolate they have eaten and the dogs weight

White chocolate has the least amount of stimulants, but baking chocolate, milk chocolate or coca beans themselves have the highest sources that can lead to toxic poison in your pets. Here is a breakdown straight from the vet

White Chocolate – a 20lb dog would need to eat 55 pounds of white chocolate to cause nervous system troubles. That’s a lot of candy!
 Milk Chocolate –  a 20lb dog would only have to eat  one pound of milk chocolate to have the toxic effect.  Hide your candy bars, milk chocolate eggs and other chocolate treats from your pets.

Semi Sweet Chocolate – 20lb dog would only need to eat 6 ounces of this before they would become very sick.  Dark Chocolate lovers beware!

Even though your pet might not eat those amounts, and might  just of ran off with a few Hershey’s Kisses or even a little piece of your candy bar, the high fat content in those candies may cause vomiting and diarrhea.  The effects of chocolate consumed by a pet can last 12 to 72  hours.  

Let’s keep Easter sweet and safe!  Keep your candy treats away from your pets, there are many great tasting made in the USA pets treats available today for their Easter Baskets