The Straz Center’s self-serve candy station in Morsani Hall is a year-round Halloween dream come true. No tricks here. It’s just all candy all the time, and we love it.
Each year, we buy about 2,100 pounds of candy. That much candy is roughly the weight of two full-sized grand pianos.
Each month, our guests consume around 175 pounds of candy –about the average weight of a six-foot-tall man.
The four favorites for Straz guests are M&Ms, peanut M&Ms, Swedish fish and a long strip of candy called a blueberry sour belt.
Erika Elias, our concessions manager chooses which candies go in the station. She does take employee suggestions to change up the selections from time to time.
Some experimental candy choices over the years included red hots, gummy sharks, warhead sour tears and candy pebbles.
Occasionally, Straz donors get to pick a few new candies for the jars. Their picks included banana candies, black licorice bites and cappuccino Jelly Bellies.
Erika rolls with the seasons, so candy corn may be in there this month and peppermint will appear for the holiday season.
