The town of Hershey. . .
Ok, there is no town of Hershey, no city of Hershey, no municipality of Hershey. It is actually Derry Township. Hershey is basically the empire created by Milton S. Hershey. Chocolate Factory, Milton S. Hershey School, various hotels and sports complexes. But no town.
Still, Hershey is all about chocolate. This is evidenced in the street names.
And the street lights.
Yes, these are real. A side note: last summer Anjee, Al, and I went to the Baltimore Aquarium. As we were approaching the aquarium from the parking garage, I told them that I thought I saw a Hershey kiss lamp post. Both kids thought I was crazy. Until we neared the museum and saw that there was a display set up outside advertising Hershey Park — complete with Hershey-style street lights.
Anyhow, Hershey is located 8.4 miles from Middletown. That’s the current driving mileage. When I was young, the travel was a little more involved and round-about. But it was still close. And we went to Hershey often.
First of all, there was the Chocolate Factory.
When I was little, this was where we went to get mulch for Pap’s roses and tulips. We’d drive over to Hershey to buy burlap bags of the stuff, smelling of chocolate, and take them to his house and spread it on the flower beds surrounding his patio. I just read that dog owners shouldn’t use this and I guess that makes sense, but in that day and time, it was effective and aromatic and my memory of it is a fond one. Besides, Gammy and Pap didn’t have a dog so it didn’t matter.
The smell of chocolate. That seemed to permeate all of Hershey, and off course it came from the factory. Of course, if it was strong outside the factory, it was even more pronounced inside. Yes, inside. At that time the chocolate factory was a regular field trip. I remember going with my Brownie troop — more than once. But not just the Hershey Chocolate Factory: at that time we also visited the Reese’s Factory, maker of fine peanut butter cups. Reese’s wasn’t a part of the Hershey empire at the time.
Back to the field trips: we were able to tour the factories, tromping through, seeing the conveyor belts of Hershey kisses, the bathtubs full of wrapped chocolate Easter eggs — in October. We walked through, sniffing and ogling, and left with samples. Not little samples, not a paltry kiss or bite-sized morsel, but full-sized candy bars. But due to health and safety issues and insurance stipulations, eventually that opportunity was lost. Instead, visitors could find out about how the confections were made by visiting Chocolate World.
The original had a turntable entrance to the carts that transported visitors through the display. Now there are dancing cows. I liked the old tours better.
And of course, there was . . . and is . . . the park. I visited there often as a child. We went there at least once a year for my dad’s company picnic. Harrisburg Dairies sponsored this and gave each of the employees a book or so of ride tickets. At that time the admission to the park was free, with picnic grounds available. Each ride had an individual price, one ticket or maybe more. It was a great place to go for a few hours of family time. When I was in high school the park underwent its first change: admission was still free or cheap (I don’t remember exactly) and a wristband entitled the wearer to ride. Later it became as it is today: pay to enter and then ride or not. Picnics? Better find a place outside the park because within, you’ll have to purchase at the concession stands. You’ll also pay for parking and deal with plenty more crowds than earlier.
There were other reasons to go there as well. Hershey Stadium for football games, drum & bugle corps shows, and later band competitions. Hershey Arena to watch Dad play hockey or in high school for basketball play-offs. There were things going on there, and while today it’s a resort, a vacation destination, when we were growing up, it was just where we went.
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