In a genuinely sweet deal, Candy Bank founders Mark Hughes and Steve Beacham have decided to relax on their Reese’s after Oct. 31 and hand over a 10-year legacy of obtaining and emptying packages, sorting, weighing and repacking candy in 5 lb. bags for distribution along White Street on Halloween night to “the boys at Harold’s.”
“Steve and I were thinking about not doing the walk last year,” Candy Bank’s Mark Hughes said. “It really is a lot of work getting donations, storing them, then redistributing the pieces fairly among all those five pound bags, but Josh Allen and Coty Pate of Harold’s Diner offered to help us out. It was great to have their partnership to make it a success last year, and it’s really time for us to hand it on.”
On their part, Allen and Pate’s “internship” ends this Halloween. On All Saints Day they will wake up as the sole Candy Bank executives and will be responsible for the annual sugaring of some 1200-plus children for the foreseeable future.
“There are a lot of memories created on White Street during events,” Allen said. “The Candy Walk contributes to that, and the crowd grows every year. We’re already looking forward to finding some bigger sponsors for next year.”
Meanwhile, the Candy Bank is seriously low on assets for this year and would appreciate some large deposits of candy before Oct. 30.
“It can be any kind of wrapped candy or edible small treat,” Hughes said, “from leftover candy thrown at parades to bulk packages of it. Some people even buy through Amazon and have the package delivered directly to Regalia Clothing or Harold’s.
“People on the Candy Walk route still need to buy their own candy to distribute first,” Hughes noted, “because the bags we distribute are meant to be supplemental supplies for folks who run out. There are some households that always buy for Halloween but don’t have trick-or-treaters visit because all the kids are down here. So, they buy their candy for us to distribute on White Street, and they can still join in the fun. It becomes kind of a block party.
“The big news for this year is that we managed to have a meeting with the mayor and police chief about the near-misses we’ve had in the past with traffic snarls, and they have agreed to try making the upper loop one-directional-traffic-only; moving from the highway toward the Crescent Hotel from 4 – 6 p.m. on Halloween night, when little kids are out.”
Sometime before Oct. 30, the donated packages of wrapped candies will be emptied, mixed into an appropriate variety and repackaged in 5 lb. lots for delivery. Now’s the time to make a Candy Bank deposit. It’s an investment that pays some delicious dividends to the community.
Deposit boxes are located at Regalia Clothing and Harold’s Diner on White Street. Watch for updates on Facebook at Harold’s Diner: Soda Fountain & FARMacy.
Sweet Statistics
- Nearly 600 million pounds of candy are sold in the U.S. during Halloween season
- Americans buy 7.4 pounds of candy, spending close to $4 billion annually
- The average household spends close to $35 on Halloween candy
- The price for cocoa, chocolate’s key ingredient, reached an all-time high, nearly tripling in 2024
- Despite challenges like cocoa shortages, chocolate remains the preferred category, with Reese’s, Snickers, and M&Ms consistently the top Halloween favorites
- Only 20 states reported candy corn as the most popular Halloween candy
- Children collect from around 5 ounces to 3 pounds of candy per person on Halloween
- Kids reportedly can consume up to 7,000 calories on average on Halloween night
- More than a third of Americans now say they look forward to Halloween all year long
- 65% of households decorate their homes for Halloween, which correlates with increased candy purchases
- The average number of trick-or-treaters per household is 2.3, leading to roughly 500 million nationwide
- About 1 in 4 parents admit to sneaking candy from their child’s Halloween stash
- The proportion of households purchasing Halloween candy online has increased by 20% over the past five years
- Halloween spending is expected to hit a record $13.1 billion this year for costumes, candy and decorations