Another Sweet Year

We’re not just a candy store, really.

Sure from the surface level it looks like a candy store, but we have so much more to offer, and pride ourselves as the store that has way more than meets the eye.

We had four major events this past year; all exceeding expectations and setting the bar even higher for 2015. So with that being said, let us take a look back on the year that was.

The first big event was the ‘Weekend of Love’ from February 14-17th, featuring the talents of Rufus, Nikki W., DJ Flash, DLF and Sarah Smith. The 4 day concert was put in place to raise awareness for two special causes. 

One of them being the Cambridge Early Years Family Centre, a place where young families can partake in various programs designed to help and develop children aged 0-6 years-old. Parents could share parenting tips amongst each other and get help from those at the facility. The weekend of love was set up for donations and to raise awareness that this option is available for new parents. The building is located at 149 Ainslie st. in Cambridge. For more information about them, and what they can offer check out their website at www.cfeyc.ca

 The other major focal point of the event was to help find a stem-cell match for Katie Star Hodgkinson, a little four-year-old girl who needed to find a match in order to survive acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Our goal at the store was to not only find a match, but to make #katiestar trend on twitter in Canada. 

We are extremely happy to report that a match was found and that she’s recovering well.  Read the article from The Cambridge Times here

 Rufus started the entertainment off with his hip-hop assisted by DJ Flash from 91.5 the Beats mix at 6. They performed together and hosted the dance party that followed. The following day Nikki W. and Sarah Smith took the stage with amazing original pieces as well as some awesome covers of classic songs. The event had people packed in, with the sounds blasting through the store and onto the street. The guys at 4GPA we’re a big help in setting up the speakers and lights to make it a rock show for the ages. DLF ended the weekend of love making sure everyone left on a high note.

Check out one of the Sarah Smith performances here.  

Flash forward a few months now to June, where we went looking for the next big hip-hop star right here in Cambridge. With the launch of the hip-hop candy festival. Again the event had a deeper meaning with Argus residence being at the forefront of this event. Argus residence is a homeless shelter for youth in the Cambridge area. Located not too far away from the Candy Funhouse, we wanted this event to be special and help out any way we could in hopes of benefitting the shelter. For more information on Argus check out their website at www.argusresidence.com

 Hip-Hop Candy Fest had eight finalists ranging in age from 12-16. They performed original songs at Central Park in front of a modest crowd on a beautiful summer day. The winners were Carlie and Griffon, who walked away with $250, one thousand dollars of recording time with Brixston music, and a huge candy basket.  One of the highlights was this song right here performed by Shana and the one-and-only Willy Wonka! A wonderful rendition of ‘lose yourself’ originally done by Eminem. This year we plan on making it even better with more musical acts and bigger prizes. Keep checking our various social media outlets as more details come out!

 In August we launched a social media campaign to promote the store with the “candy selfie” contest. We left it to the public to vote on the winner, the winner would receive a gift basket valued at $200.  Eventually Brooklyn was declared the winner winning by a significant margin.

 As the summer heat reached its peak, we needed a way to cool down for a good cause. Introducing Kylie’s lemonade stand! 

Four-year-old Kylie Hass set up a lemonade stand right outside our front doors on August 13th, raising donations for the Ronald McDonald House in Hamilton. Selling more than 290 cups of lemonade and raising $3,100. An amazing result for a little girl who just a few months prior was going through chemotherapy for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

The who's who of Cambridge came out to help support Kylie and Ronald McDonald House, even mayor Doug Craig stopped by for a drink and a small chat with Brooke (Kylie’s mother.) Ridgehill Ford donated $1,000 themselves to help the cause. The event was such a success that we are hoping to make it an annual thing. That being said, let’s start planning and make sure you spread the word as the event gets close to smash the record we did last year!

The last major event this year was the launch of our most successful viral campaign to date. The #Cbridgeclash was announced in December, having all three downtown cores of Cambridge participate in a friendly competition to raise the most food for the Cambridge self-help food bank.

We had a lot of help in this campaign, from Dave FM for constantly keeping us in their forefront during their morning show, to the downtown stores willing to put up posters to help promote the campaign. Countless people within the community donated what they could to help out the less fortunate.

We hosted the kick off party for the #Cbridgeclash, which also acted as our own Christmas party, with the big jolly guy Santa making an appearance as well as Sweet Willy Wonka.

Our party kicked off with a reading by local poet/ author Barb Day. She had just released  a young-readers book called ‘Zanzibar’, you can read our interview with her here.

As Santa continued to hand out candy and collect donations for the food drive, the anticipation for the debut of the super group, the ‘Candy Men’ was mounting. 

The Candy men are a collection of local musicians who played together for the very first time rocking out to classic rock tunes and a few Christmas songs as well. They were made up of musicians; Mike Meacher (lead vocals/guitar), Fyl Bennett (bass), Paul Bulla (keys), Mark Manfini (guitar/vocals), CandyWOmen Marcia Dwyer-Aultman (back up vocals), and the man for finding all these amazing drummer (and occasional singer) Billy Thompson.
Check out some of their performances here:

http://bit.ly/1zCPVaZ
http://bit.ly/1Bpb3DH

They performed to a packed house yet again, the most traffic we’ve had in the store for one specific event. Robin Benedict closed out the show with a few cover songs and original pieces of her own. Thanks again to 4GPA for helping with the sound and audio.

 

The #Cbridgeclash ended only a week ago, raising an astonishing  6,938 lbs for the food bank. Breaking down the numbers showed that Galt raised 2,206 lbs, Hespeler with 1,254 and Preston with 3,478 respectfully. Next year we want to raise even more and are planning to launch the #Cbridgeclash earlier on with more local stores and businesses hopping onboard.

 

This year has been amazing in so many ways, excelling expectations. With the bars now set to improve on, you can count on the Candy Funhouse to offer even more sweet times for 2015.

An interview with Barb Day, local author and poet

Local Spoken Word poet, and now published author Barb Day, recently came into Candy Funhouse to promote her adventure novel for kids ‘Zanzibar.’ After years of edits and re-edits her book is finally on our stores shelf and will be a hit for those young readers out there. A great stocking stuffer for the Christmas season.

Candy Funhouse (CF): Getting an independent book published is notoriously hard, can you take us through the process?

Barb Day (BD): Well, I was self-published completely so that solved that problem (laughs.)

CF: What about the editing process?

BD: I know an editor from here in Cambridge, so she edited the book for me. I had a few other adults read it over. Then I took it to a publisher, and he designed the cover and printed the books.

CF: What were kids reactions to reading the book?

BD: Well, the interesting thing about it is that I never had a child read it until after it was published. Of course I was all worried about it, the adults who read it loved it, but I really wanted feed back from a kid.

CF: And we’re assuming the children's reactions were as positive as the adults?

BD: I sold a book to an old co-worker of mine for her son. I got a message on Facebook saying that Jax’s was devastated because one of their dogs managed to chew off a few pages of the book, it was Jax’s absolute favourite book too! Jax was an avid reader, so to hear that from a kid was a huge thing.

CF: Is there going to be another book? Maybe a continuation or a whole different story all together?

BD: I left it open for a trilogy. But I mean I work full-time too and it took four years from start to finish for this book, so it might be awhile for the next one. It takes lot of time and energy.

CF: While in the writing process did you have a set mind set for the characters and story lines? Did it change drastically in those four years?

BD: That’s a good question! Most writers have everything mapped out well in advanced that’s how they work. Me, not so much. I do things totally opposite. I just sit down and words just start to flow out.

CF: With that style you have, did you find the editing to be tiresome or frustrating?

BD: I really wish I kept some original drafts, I’m sure I would read them now and just want to crumple them up and toss them in the garbage.

CF: Surely its a rewarding experience, how cool is it to have a physical copy of a book you wrote in your hands?

BD: Oh absolutely, I have to say two of the most amazing things were; one finally finishing after four years, and two getting that first copy off the press and holding it. I wanted to scream, laugh and cry all at the same time.

CF: Have you done more book signings?

BD: I did my book launch at a small coffee shop in Brantford, and we had a big pirate cake and everything. It was really cool, a mother brought in her two daughters and we took pictures and she thought it would be neat if her daughters met a published author. Those kinds of things, made all the work worth it.

CF: Can you give us a percentage on how likely another book will come down the line at some point?

BD: Haha, I said I’d take a break for a few months, but I’m sure sooner or later my wheels will start turning again. I’ve already got feedback of people wanting to know what happens next.

CF: If books continue to sell, does it put pressure on you to continue in the series?

BD: I’m sure it would be similar to George Martin and his Game of Throne series, having to produce new stories to feed the masses!

CF: Where did the inspiration for the book and its overall theme and characters come from?

BD: I loved fantasy books as a kid, but I never wrote for years and years and years. I wrote in high school but didn't really write anything again until up until five-years-ago.

CF: What sparked the revive in writing?

BD: I took a course at Mohawk College, called writing for publication. One of the assignments happened to be to write a short story for kids. So this book essentially started off as a school assignment. I remember the teacher saying “you packed an awful lot into the short story, this needs to be a novel.”

CF: When it comes to the Spoken Word poetry, where does your inspiration come from? Your surroundings or experiences?

BD: A lot of Spoken Word comes from experiences, I mean I have one about how difficult it is these days to get a coffee. I had a poor experience at a drive-thru coffee shop and was so mad I decided to write a poem about it.

CF: What about the inspiration for ‘Candy kid’?

BD: Well, I heard another poet mention a certain candy bar in her poem, so I decided I could do a whole poem about candy.

CF: Do you think the English language and how we tell stories is a thriving industry or do you think its dying down as technology starts to take over?

BD: I think should write a poem about that! I think in someways it is and someways it isn’t. With Spoken Word, I find the most impressive thing is that it’s drawing in a younger crowd. Men are interested, generally poetry in the past has been a female market. But now with Spoken Word more and more varieties are showing up, it’s a impressive and wonderful thing.

CF: Do you have meetings for poetry slams?

BD: I run one out of Brantford called the Brant Rant. We have a meet up the second Wednesday of every month.

CF: Have you noticed an increase of people coming out now that there’s the University (Wilfrid Laurier) in town?

BD: We just started it up, but we had a meeting with the Arts co-ordinator from Laurier, and they’re very interested in being apart of it. We’re going to get a young man who's been to nationals to run a work-shop at our meet up.

CF: Is it just poetry at these meet ups?

BD: That’s a common misconception. We try not to make it just about poetry. For instance, the one coming up we’ll have stand up comedy. For Valentines day in February we’ll be having an ‘Anti-Valentines day’ meet up. Then for St.Patrick’s Day we’ll have a musician that plays Celtic music, to get a wide range of people to come out. Once they come out and notice how fun it is, they start to come back and it just grows.


Be sure to come into Candy Funhouse and pick up her book Zanzibar!

Top 20 Retro Candies

Which of these candies do you remember?

20. Sweet Tarts

Wonka Candies have been around for a long time. Sweet Tarts in particular is a product of the early 60's!

19. Wack-o-Wax Lips

Remember biting on the back plate of these and pretending to pass on Wax Lips as your own?

18. Candy Buttons

Candy Buttons/Dots/Pox are another retro classic that come in 3 different flavours: Cherry, Lime & Lemon

17. Necco

WARNING: Once you pop these easy to eat treats it's hard to stop.

16. Cow Tales

Cow Tales are a chewy caramel treat wrapped around a creamy center and are  they are naturally low in fat, low in sodium, and cholesterol free.

15. Atomic Fireball

These jawbreakers  are a round, cinnamon-flavored hard candy and VERY spicy - hence the name ;)

14. Sugar Daddy

Originally called the Papa Sucker, this milk caramel candy bar on a stick lasts a looong time.

13. BB Bats

Old Fashioned Taffy Pops were inspired by actual baseball bats - although I wouldn't recommend using one instead of a designated bat

12. Curly Wurly

Curly Wurly bars are two flattened, intertwined serpentine strings made of chocolate-coated caramel.

11. 5th Avenue

Spawn of Hershey's, 5th Ave. bars have a crunchy peanut butter center covered in chocolate.

10. Big League Chew

For the pro inside of you when you're on the spot - Big League Chew.

9. Sherbet Fountain

One of our favourites and such a classic! The yellow tube is filled with a white, zingy Sherbet.

8. Mackintosh's

Nestle Canada’s Mackintosh disappeared a number of years ago – Some believe in that Urban Legend based on the rumor of the “toffee factory” that burned down, but it's back it seems and here to stay!

7. Pop Rocks

This candy classic is less about flavour and more about POP! Munching on these isn't just snacking, it's an EXPERIENCE!

6. Thrills

Well known for its purple colour and its distinctive floral rosewater flavour,
this Canadian made chewing gum "Still tastes like soap!"

5. Charleston Chew

Back when the Charleston was still only known as a dance,
this candy bar consisting of flavored nougat covered in chocolate flavor coating hit the scene

and quickly became a classic favourite.

4. Popeye Candy Sticks

EVERY kid has pretended to smoke these...

3. Cherry Blossom

Contrary to common myth, filling is not injected inside the chocolate.
The cherry candy is coated with an enzyme that breaks down the solid into a liquid over the next 1 to 2 weeks.

2. Cracker Jacks

The perfect companion, whether it's a movie or a baseball game,

Cracker Jacks have been a traditional snack that adds that flare

that takes you back.

1. Abba Zaba

This favourite is a taffy candy bar with a peanut butter center,

the perfect blend that recently received cult status from a reference in the film Half Baked.

What other candies would you add to this list?

-iCandy

Star Search

That's right - Candy Funhouse will be shooting a new Web Series right here in our own backyard, and we're looking for refreshingly talented volunteers to help make this Epic Candy Tale come to life! 

Each webisode in the series will feature a theme based on a social issue we see in our community - like bullying.
The goal of the show will be to deliver a positive message in a sweet and entertaining way, meanwhile creating a professional, high quality product that can be enjoyed by many all over the world.

And this is where we'd like to include you, the talented viewers out there looking to add some extra experience to your portfolio, or simply showcase your unique talents.

On December 7, 2014 we will be holding auditions at Candy Funhouse from 12 - 4:00pm where you can speak directly to the Directors/Writers about your creative input and show us what you've got!
We're looking for: Actors, Musicians, Singers, Dancers, Writers, Puppeteers, or anything else in between.

Got a weird/unique talent? Come show us!

This project aims to get to the heart of why we do what we do at Candy Funhouse and share it with everyone, especially those within our communities in the hopes of making a difference. We hope to see you out there!
Coming Soon to your computer screens and mobile devices...

http://candyfunhouse.ca/pages/star-search

Hip Hop - The 5th Element

Basic Building Blocks
According to the pioneers of Hip Hop, there are four main elements or "pillars" that define hip hop culture, and more recently a new element has been introduced.
MCing/Rapping, DJing/Scratching, Break dancing, and Graffiti Writing are the main pillars, and some even consider other elements such as sampling and beatboxing. But hip hop artists are now considering Knowledge to be the fifth element. This can be seen as a way of preserving hip-hop culture from being the misogynistic, materially-focused ego trip that mainstream media has made it out to be, because now more and more artists are focusing on the truth of things that matter.  When you look at these pillars on a more symbolic level, we can see that they are building blocks for a certain lifestyle and way of being.

Hip Hop & Life
An example of the practical applications of these pillars can look at MCing as the act of honestly vocalizing your thoughts and opinions. Speaking your mind for yourself and nobody else; being original.

The element of DJing can be interpreted as the act of creating music. Be it playing Guitar, Bass, Piano, Drums, Scratching, Beat Boxing, Pencil Tapping... this pillar, for me, represents creating music. Music is an expression of self, and when created from a pure place, free of alternative motives, it has the power to heal yourself and others. So creating music in itself can be taken in many ways - everything is music. Poetry, Art, Nature, it's all music and that's why we love it, and we can make music in many ways, even through living our lives harmoniously.

Graffiti Writing is something people can feel with their eyes - it's primarily a visual experience that can trigger emotions. Whereas making music is a very feeling-based, internal process, Graffiti art is more about putting it out there for people to see.

Breakdancing is one pillar that many people struggle with because it requires you to be very present in your body and to lose the fear of being silly. This element can be summed up to represent physical energy. Exercise, dance, running, biking, gymnastics, breakdancing is all about movement and using your body in creative ways. This really anchors more of your awareness in your body and can even be a very meditative practice for some.

Last but not least we have knowledge. This one does not need to be simplified. If we're not learning, what are we doing? Gaining skills and abilities is the key to empowering ourselves. No one becomes great by sitting on their ass. Successful people are known for developing an ability. Attaining knowledge. Knowledge doesn't always have to come from a book. Life is teaching us lessons everyday through our very own lives, and growing through those means we gain personal experience. But we can also learn from other people's experiences by connecting and sharing, or reading books about the things people have learned and passed on. We can learn through art and we can learn by creating, the important thing is that we nourish our soul through personal growth.
Once these five pillars become the foundation for your life, one can realize how and why hip-hop is much more than a style of music - it's a way of life.

The History Spoken Word

Spoken word is a performance-based poetry that is focused on the aesthetics of word-play and storytelling and has its roots as far back as the ancient Greeks. Many spoken word poets call it a fusion between writing and acting and it can often be accompanied by other art forms like music, theatre, and dance.

Spoken word focuses on the performance of the words themselves, the dynamics, tone, gestures, facial expressions, and more. Poetic components such as rhyme, repetition, slang, improvisation, and many more elements of poetry can be woven to create an atmosphere the audience can experience.

Modern North-American spoken word poetry originated from the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance and blues music as well as the beatniks. The term "spoken word" was first adopted to explain the new art coming out of the post-modern art movement and made popular in the underground black community in the 1960s with political music group, The Last Poets.

Spoken Word's fuel is truth and it is one way that many people with strong opinions express them in a creative way. It is an outlet for people to release their views outside the academic and institutional domains of the academic or media. The spoken word and its most popular offshoot, slam poetry, evolved into the present-day soap-box for people, especially younger ones, to express their views, emotions, life experiences or information to audiences. The views of spoken-word artists encompass frank commentary on religion, politics, sex and gender, often taboo subjects in society.

Be sure to check out our very first Poetry Slam at Candy Funhouse:

https://www.facebook.com/events/344170549064877/?fref=ts

CAMBRIDGE POETRY SLAM PROMO

Join us for our first ever Poetry Slam at Candy Funhouse on September 13! In the meantime, check out this video of Candy Queen and Rafay "YbsFrack" Ansari laying down the rhymes.