When Silvia Avila saw that a Forest Park local had constructed a scarecrow in her likeness, she was pleasantly surprised.
“I turned around and I said, ‘That’s me!” said Avila, who has worked at the Ferrara Candy Shop for 25 years, after a human resources employee told her about the scarecrow. “That’s so nice!”
While the Ferrara Candy Shop has been busy as residents gear up to pass out treats on Halloween, I stopped by to find out how Avila became such a beloved local figure.
“We love you, so we made you into a scarecrow,” said Naoto Hasegawa — who constructed the scarecrow with his wife, Kimberly Adami-Hasegawa, for Forest Park’s annual Invasion of the Scarecrows — when we stopped by to take Avila’s photo with the display at 905 Circle Ave. “We wanted to honor you. You’re like a town icon.”
Avila started packing candy in the Ferrara Pan factory in 1983.
“We were like family back then,” she said about her favorite part of working for the company. While she said she’s still close with her co-workers, many of the 25 women who worked in the factory back then have since left.
When the woman who ran the publicly accessible Ferrara Candy Shop retired, Avila stepped in. Today, she mans the candy shop, placing orders and restocking the shelves.
Avila has seen the candy store change a bit over the last two-and-a-half decades.
While today Ferrara Candy Shop displays rows of bagged and boxed Red Hots, jellybeans and gummy worms, before COVID-19, there were tubs of freshly made candy that Avila scooped into plastic bowls for customers.
Candy options have changed, too. Nerds Gummy Clusters, the store’s best-seller according to Avila, have replaced the likes of gummy sharks, coke bottles, and cherries. Avila said her favorite Ferrara Pan candies were spice drops and cinnamon bears, neither of which the factory makes anymore.
But while the candy store’s offerings change, much of the clientele remains the same.
Avila shared how she remembers the faces, and often the favorite candies, of adults who used to visit the store as children. She said those kids came in after classes at St. Bernadine Elementary School and Field Stevenson Elementary School, and when they visited the park district’s pool next door in the summer. Now, Avila said, they bring their own kids to the candy shop.
“It’s nice when they come back, and they have their professions, and they still remember me,” Avila said.
The Ferrara Candy Shop is an outlet store, according to their website. Avila confirmed that many of the prices in the store are cheaper than at other locations.
While 9 ounces of Nerds Gummy Clusters cost over $6 at Walgreens, they’re only $3 at the Forest Park candy shop, Avila said. She added that she’s selling large packages of assorted candy for $20, while Walmart sells them for $28.
Ferrara Pan is also a large supporter of the community and often donates free candy (including to Growing Community Media, the parent company of the Forest Park Review) to hand out at local parades and events.
Hasegawa said Ferrara even sent candy to his Circle Avenue home after hearing about the scarecrow made to honor Avila.
“We’ll make sure the children from Forest Park get it, and we’ll make sure they know it’s from Silvia,” Hasegawa said about the Halloween candy. He said he’s grateful for the free donation, considering how much his family loves the candy store, and the scent of Lemonheads that wafts down the road.
“You can smell it from here. We go see Silvia all the time,” Hasegawa said.
“People do stop and they’re like, ‘Wow, that’s Silvia!’” he added about the scarecrow. “You’re a celebrity.”
Ferrara Candy Shop is open at 7301 Harrison Street from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and until 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Correction, Oct. 30, 2024, 1:15 p.m.: An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of the Ferrara Candy Shop employee. She is Silvia Avila. It has been corrected. We apologize for the error.