13 Jan

Lasts a good long time…or maybe not

written by Bob Hunt in Blog | 6 comments

As we bask in the warm, lava lamp glow of 70′s nostalgia, let us observe a moment of silence in recognition of the decade’s departed candy, the late confections that are no longer as accessible as the nearest corner drug store. Yea, though our ears and eyes may still enjoy our favorite musical and sitcom highlights, our tongues yearn for the delightful sensations of bygone candy bars. For it was whilst consuming such tooth-rotting fare that we absorbed the sights and sounds of the era. May I put forth for special recognition the iconic bar of my youth, a once-coveted item among its chocolate-coated peers, the king of its ilk, the Marathon Bar.

Eight inches of braided caramel enveloped in milk chocolate like a macroscopic strand of chocoholic DNA. A bright red and yellow wrapper that screamed for attention amidst M&M’s and Milky Ways, its reverse side featuring the famous ruler to prove that you were indeed about to purchase as long a bar as you had been promised. Tantalizing wild west commercial duels between the villainous Quick Carl and the virtuous Marathon John, who knew that neither Carl nor anyone else could eat a Marathon Bar in a hurry. As the saying went, it lasts a good long time.

One day I was taking them out of the freezer and whacking them on the counter in anticipation of their frozen fragments dissolving into gooey, sugary bliss. The next day, or so it seemed, they were gone. And so were the 70′s, for better or worse. I am told that Cadbury currently delights European consumers with a passable imitation called the Curly Wurly, but it just wouldn’t be the same. There was nothing like getting the most out a childhood quarter by spending it on the longest candy bar in the store. Like anything from our formative years, it was a simple pleasure taken for granted. And though it seemed to last a good long time back then, it sure passed by in a hurry.