"Factory
by Susan Fee
“So that’s how they do that!” My five year old daughter (perhaps the world’s youngest chocoholic) was staring wide-eyed during a tour of Harry London’s Chocolates. She had just learned how cream filling gets in the chocolate’s center. With her love of sweets and our mutual interest in cooking, a behind-the-scenes tour seemed like a good idea. Now we’re hooked.
If your family has a particular interest, or if you’re looking for low-cost entertainment, factory tours fit the bill. Many of the businesses are family run and started in a basement. It’s inspiring to experience the results of one person’s dream and hard work. Some families have even designed vacations around factory tours. A great resource is Watch It Made in the U.S.A by Karen Axelrod and Bruce Brumberg (2002, Avalon Travel). Or, check www.factorytoursusa.com.
A few tips before you go: Make reservations. Some tours are booked months ahead. Tours usually begin and end in the gift shop, prompting most kids’ desire to purchase something. Check for age appropriateness. Some factories are not suitable for young kids, or cannot accommodate handicapped and strollers. Take advantage of the educational aspect. Beforehand, ask your kids how they imagine a product is made. Encourage them to prepare questions. Ask your tour guide for handouts to continue the dialogue. Afterwards, have your kids write thank you notes to the company mentioning their favorite highlights.
Here are some local highlights. If
chocolate is just as exciting in your household as it is in mine, you’re
in luck! Two
companies provide kid-friendly tours, and the free samples are a bonus! Harry
London makes one of Oprah’s favorites, White Pretzel Joys, and produces 90%
of Disney’s chocolates. The 45-minute tour includes a short movie. Details:
Schwebel’s Baking Company puts
my bread machine to shame. This tour shows how hundreds of pounds of dough
is mixed, shaped, and baked into 10,000 loaves daily. Just as the mouthwatering
aroma becomes overwhelming, each person receives a loaf of fresh bread. Dare
I admit we broke ours open in the car? Details:
Before touring the Jones’ Potato
Chip Company, my daughter insisted that potato chips just grew that way. Seeing
50,000 pounds of potatoes changed her opinion. The best part is sampling
warm potato chips! Tour length is approximately 30 minutes. Details:
Another tour to check while in
Visiting Longaberger Homestead is
a day-long experience. The tour is self-guided and allows you to watch
nearly 1000 artisans at work. This factory is state-of-the -art, clean,
and built with the viewing public in mind. Guides are stationed along
the way as well as pictures and displays to explain the process. For a
fee, you can make your own basket with the help of a professional. Pick
up the free shuttle from the homestead location where shopping and eating
abounds. It’s worth the
extra 20 minutes to travel to the home office to see the wonders of architectural
imagination: a building inside a basket! Plan at least 30 minutes for the
tour. Details:
Get ready for some mind-boggling numbers when you
tour the Plain Dealer production plant. Within its 10,000 acres,
the warehouse stores 6,400 rolls of newsprint, and the presses can print
21 newspapers a second – that’s 75,000 an hour! There’s a lot more to experience,
but only for kids eight and older. Details:
Susan Fee is a freelance writer living in