Enjoying the sweet life in a Chocolate-Covered World

To steal a line from Jackie Gleason, how sweet it is.

Kids eat it up. So do moms and pops, aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpas.

The entire family is sweet on Chocolate Town, U.S.A., the village that makes its sugar turning out candy bars. That’s right, Hershey’s.

It’s impossible to forget where one is. First there are the streets. For example, Chocolate and Cocoa avenues. And Hersheypark Drive. One street runs right by Chocolate World where visitors are exposed to the process of chocolate production. The Hershey Bank is a few doors down the street (that’s where candy workers stash their sugar). Hershey Drugstore is next door. And wouldn’t you know, the town is illuminated by chocolate kiss-shaped lamps.

Overlooking the scene is Hotel Hershey. It rises on a hill facing Hershey Gardens. And in the distance there’s a super -duper family-oriented theme park. Must I tell? Of course, Hersheypark.

But wait a minute. Back up. We’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Once upon a time this was farmland with rolling plains and a herd of contented cows. Then along came Milton S. Hershey with his dream. A Mennonite, he wanted to become America’s chocolate king. Not only wanted to but did.

Hershey made a fortune turning out caramel candy in Lancaster, Pa. By the age of 35 he was prosperous. Seven years later he sold his caramel business for $1 million. That’s back when a million bucks was still a lot of sugar.

Hershey figured early on that chocolate would outsell caramels. He was right.

So Hershey came to the fertile Lebanon Valley of south-central Pennsylvania and built himself a chocolate factory. As his candy bar became an American trademark, Milton Hershey built houses for his workers in a town where they could shop and play. The sweet smell of success.

Meanwhile, the candy king bought himself a herd of cows. He needed milk for his chocolate. It took a mountain of the stuff to keep the town building. So now there’s a Hershey museum. And a Hershey golf course and Hershey’s Highmeadow Camp where visitors pitch tents and free rides are provided between the camp and Chocolate World on the Chocolate Shuttle.

Tiny tots check in at the Hershey Nursery. Convention groups gather at Hershey Lodge. And there’s an indoor-outdoor swimming pool at Hershey’s Cocoa Avenue Plaza along with tennis, softball and basketball. At the hotel and lodge, guests are reminded exactly where they are. Because along with a room key they get a Hershey bar.

Hotel Hershey was designed from a picture post card that Milton Hershey picked up in the Mediterranean. Guests agree it’s a pip of a place, what with indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis, lawn bowling, riding and golf. Indeed, the village is blessed with five golf courses. This makes Hershey the golf capital of Pennsylvania.

Hershey Lodge & Convention Center (“The largest facility of its kind between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh”) provides suites for sweet dreams. Like the hotel, it features a couple of swimming pools plus saunas and a whirlpool. There’s also the new Chocolate suite conference center along with three restaurants, a theater and nightclub.

Complimentary limousine service is gratis for guests traveling from Harrisburg International Airport and Harrisburg’s rail station. Hershey is eight miles off the Pennsylvania Turnpike and a dozen miles east of Harrisburg.

On Hershey’s automated tour of Chocolate world visitors see how chocolate is made--from bean to bar. Afterward they dip into the Dessert Cafe for a soda. Chocolate, what else?

Hershey’s top attraction is its theme park, the sweetest deal this side of Disneyland. Only instead of Mickey Mouse, it features live candy bars. This along with live entertainment in half a dozen theaters. The park also has 36 rides. Three are roller-coasters. The scariest is the SooperDooperLooper. One of America’s top four, it does a complete 360-degree upside-down loop that’s a screamer.

After this, visitors climb aboard the Coal Cracker Flume on a neck-snapping, high-speed ride that ends with passengers hydroplaning at 35 m.p.h.

A trifle gentler is the park’s centrifugal force Ferris wheel and antique carrousel.

Crowds eavesdrop on the park from kiss-shaped windows atop the 330-foot Kissing Tower. A monorail runs regularly and squeals are heard from the stunning Minetown Sky Ride.

Among the park’s seven theme areas, Tudor Square gets raves. The 17th-Century village is like a replay of old London town. Shopkeepers dressed in period garb greet visitors entering the gates of Tudor Castle. Others stroll through Rhine Land and Der Deitschplatz. One theme area dedicated to the Pennsylvania Dutch employs silversmiths, potters, candle makers and a leather crafter. Other gifts are fashioned by the village blacksmith.

Celebrities entertain regularly at Hersheypark, and like Hollywood’s film folk, they leave their handprints in concrete alongside bronze stars.

For tykes, the park features a theater in a barn, games, a clown and a puppet booth, and in summertime dolphins perform in a show like the one at Sea World. Throughout the park, maples and elms spread their shade. In Rhine Land geraniums flow from window boxes in an 18th-Century scene stolen from Deutschland. Visitors line up for snacks at Der Pizza Meister, the Alpine Ristorante and Hamburger Chalet.

Thousands of daffodils and tulips bloom in Hershey Gardens in springtime, and afterward 24,000 roses show their faces in a startling rainbow display. The park’s ZooAmerica features plants and animals from the Everglades, Arizona and Mexico, the Western plains and Eastern forests: alligators, bobcat, raccoons, golden eagles, bison, timber wolves and others.

Besides candy, Hershey is big on cars. It’s national headquarters for the Antique Automobile Club of America. In October car owners across the United States display hundreds of classic models. It’s the granddaddy of antique car shows. Hershey’s population swells from 18,000 to more than 100,000. Owners swap parts. Some swap cars. And everyone swaps tales about the world’s most colorful horseless carriage show.

The Hershey name isn’t easily forgotten. Consider the attractions: The Hershey Orchestra Society, the Hershey Community Chorus, the Hershey School of Dance, Hershey Men’s Lawn & Garden Club, Hershey Library, Hershey Theater and the Milton Hershey School.

The latter, Hershey’s proudest legacy, provides free schooling and board through high school to underprivileged children (the current enrollment topping the 1,300 mark).

Finally, Hershey owns a hockey team that’s a member of the American League. So wouldn’t you figure they’d call the players the Hershey Bars? Nope, someone goofed. Named them the Hershey Bears. Enough.