Key III Candies

Key III Candies
4211 Earth Drive
Fort Wayne, IN
46809-1513
260-747-7514

Photo Credit: Me! Taken in May 2008

My family and candy have deep, deep ties! Not only do we love candy, but some family members have even worked for candy companies.

My mom and my Aunt Carolyn both worked at Wayne Candies. I don't remember that period of time but what I do remember is when my mother went to work at a NEW candy place called Key III.

Key III Candies was a solid bike ride from my house. It was on Earth Drive which was right off of Sand Hill Drive.

Key III existed in this warehouse structure and their main purpose was to make awesome candy!

I asked my mother how she came to work there and she told me that folks from Wayne Candies had left the company to start up Key III. They asked her to come work there and she did. My mom had all sorts of jobs within the candy factory but her most favorite was "quality control". I have to laugh because my mom, who was rail thin, loved her some candy and she could eat lots of it and you'd never know that this is how she passed the time of day ;).

There were two sets of memories that I have of Key III Candies.

First, my mom got to bring home the "rejects". Oh my gosh - when you grow up poor - "rejected" candy is like heaven on earth. She used to bring home boxes of chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate covered peppermint patties - oh - and the chocolate covered carmel nut thingies were THE BEST!!! When the company started experimenting with the white chocolate - well - those were the boxes I tended to leave alone ;).

My second memory was when we had the opportunity to take tours of the facility. I remember the big mixer machines and the conveyor belts where the chocolate was gracefully set up to coat those luscious buttons of carmel nut clusters. Everyone seemed to be wearing white from head to toe.

I haven't been inside Key III Candies in over 30 years (wow!) but my gosh, if I just close my eyes and concentrate real hard, I can still remember those awesome, chocolate smells.

Reflections On My Trip Home - Why I Still Have BIG Love for Fort Wayne

Why I Still Have BIG Love For Fort Wayne

* Not in any particular order and certainly - not an exhaustive list.

• It still doesn't take very long to go from one side of town to another - get on Clinton, Lafayette, Jefferson, State Street, Coliseum - and boom - you're there in no time at all. Let me tell you - living in Central Indiana - it is a major effort to get from one side of town to another, regardless of the route you take.

• I never once felt unsafe regardless of the neighborhood I stopped to take photos in.

• Every single person I ran into (stranger and otherwise) - NICE. SMILED. Didn't think I was a complete freak. And you know, that's something (for me) which has usually been the case (80/20) rule. Fort Wayne is a friendly (without being creepy friendly) city.

• Families are alive and well and do things that make me smile - bike ride, go to the parks, eat together, etc...

• While I was at Indian Village, the fifth grade convocation was going on. It was absolutely beautiful watching the parents - watching their children. Great love. Great pride. Now, if the school board could just have the same attitude...

• I was pleasantly surprised by small things (and new things to me) I had never seen. Example - sparkly squared lights downtown around the Hilton (the sidewalk lights).

• I was pleasantly surprised by BIG things (and new to me things) I had never seen. Example - the Wells Street bridge (that entire area - which has been completely overhauled since I lived in this area). This was a major (foot) route for me and my grandparents. I remember how fragile the wood was - walking across. We had to stay in the middle because the walkways on the side of the bridge were way too dangerous. Approaching the bridge, it used to be quite overgrown with weeds. But now - look at this. It is beautiful and gorgeous but in a very subtle way.

• Which is why this is its own bullet point - for the most part - Fort Wayne does a great job of making things personal and subtle and not gaudy and not flashy.

• Every single retail, food, service related establishment that I frequented - people were nice. Genuinely nice.

I wish I could have taken a picture of every positive moment - however - it just wasn't possible.

Throughout the two days I was here - I took over five hundred shots.

Aside from the photos - I have much more to say about my trip this weekend to the Fort. Some things - I'm disappointed with. Some things - I'm curious about. But more on those later. Right now, I'm goin' back to Indy to enjoy the rest of the weekend with my husband and son.