From Coca-Cola to Crayolas, Factory Tours Put It All Together for Children

“Are you sure this is the right place?” the kids asked nervously.

Well, no, I wasn’t. Down a narrow alley in San Francisco’s Chinatown, tucked into a small, cramped room, the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory didn’t look like a business at all, much less a company that turns out 10,000 cookies daily.

But as we peered inside, there were two smiling Chinese women, their hands flying, folding the hot, wafer-thin dough into the cookies’ familiar shape. The kids were flabbergasted at how fast they worked. I was grateful for the peek the tiny factory gave us into such a foreign world. We left snacking on “reject” broken cookies.

That morning turned out to be one of the most memorable adventures of our Northern California trip, one the kids still recall a couple of years later.

Since then, I’ve tried to seek out other factories, both large and small, where we could watch something being made: an open-air tortilla factory in Akumal, Mexico; chocolate-making at Ethel M’s in Las Vegas; seeing how tea gets into those little bags at Celestial Seasonings in Boulder, Colo.; and the Federal Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D.C., where we watched reams of paper money being counted.

It’s a way to slip a little education into a vacation. It didn’t matter if we stayed a few minutes or hours; we left with a new understanding of the effort it takes to make a product and of the people who do the work.

“Kids are so naturally curious that factory tours can be a special highlight of a vacation,” says Karen Axelrod, mother of two young children. With her husband, Bruce Brumberg, she wrote “Watch It Made in the U.S.A.” (John Muir Publications, $17.95). You can order directly from the Web site at https://www.factorytour.com). The book lists about 300 factory tours around the country.

Axelrod, who lives in Boston, is convinced that factory tours are the best vacation bargain going because so many are free or require only a nominal charge. You don’t have to pay for souvenirs, either, since many places give out free samples.

What baseball fan could resist seeing how Louisville Slugger baseball bats are made in Kentucky? Dress-up fans would love Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World, where you can try on costumes as well as see how the famous New Orleans parade floats are made.

In big cities or small towns, factory tours can offer the perfect respite when you’ve run out of things to do or when the bad-weather blues hit.

Raining in Orlando, Fla.? Head an hour north to see how fire trucks are made at the Emergency-One (E-One) plant in Ocala, Fla.

Not enough snow in Vermont? Stuff your own teddy bear at the Vermont Teddy Bear factory in Shelburne, Vt., after touring the workshop where the bears are sewn together.

When it’s too cold for the beach next summer, go see how toothpaste is put in the tubes at Tom’s of Maine in Kennebunk, Maine, or watch potato chips being fried at the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory in Hyannis, Mass.

Just make sure you phone the factory first because advance reservations sometimes are required, and tours aren’t always offered every day, especially in winter.

Sometimes you can create your own tour. Youngsters would be fascinated by a peek at a giant hotel laundry or a cruise ship kitchen. Often, all you have to do is ask to be able to tour a facility or factory.

Check the local Chamber of Commerce to see what companies are headquartered near your destination. Newspapers and TV stations usually host tours.

I can’t think of a better way to break up a too-long drive either. If you’re on your way from Yosemite National Park to San Francisco, for example, the kids certainly wouldn’t mind a stop at the Hershey factory in Oakdale, Calif., where Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Hershey’s Kisses are made.

Some factory tours have become so popular that they are sophisticated tourist operations, with gift boutiques. Atlanta’s huge World of Coca-Cola, for example, attracts more than a million visitors annually--the city’s biggest indoor tourist draw. The Ben & Jerry’s ice cream factory tour is Vermont’s most-visited tourist attraction, drawing 275,000 visitors every year.

Crayola was turning away so many would-be visitors from its Easton, Pa., factory that it built a 20,000-square-foot family Discovery Center two years ago as part of a downtown redevelopment project.

The idea clicked big time. More than 340,000 people came last year. “People are coming in droves with their kids,” said a very pleased Marta Gabriel, the company’s community relations manager. “Americans just have this fascination with how things are made.”

The Golden Gate Cookie Co., 56 Ross Alley, San Francisco, Calif.; telephone (415) 781-3956. Open daily 10 a.m.-midnight.

Ethel M Chocolates; tel. (702) 433-2500, Internet https://www.ethelm.com; open 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m. daily.

Celestial Seasonings; tel. (303) 581-1202, Internet https://www.celestialseasonings.com. Tours conducted Monday-Saturday on the hour 10 a.m.-3 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Children must be 5 or older for the factory portion of the tour.

U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing; tel. (202) 874-3188, Internet https://www.moneyfactory.com. Tours offered 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday. Ask your congressman to get you tickets in advance to avoid lines.

World of Coca-Cola; tel. (404) 676-5151, Internet https://www.webguide.com/coke.html.

Ben & Jerry’s, Route 100, Waterbury, VT, 05676; tel. (802) 244-TOUR, Internet https://www.benjerry.com. Winter tour hours daily 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Louisville Slugger; tel. (502) 588-7228, Internet https://www.slugger.com.

Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World; tel. (504) 361-7821, Internet https://www.mardigrasworld.com.

Emergency-One (E-One); tel. (352) 237-1122, Internet https://www.e-one.com.

Vermont Teddy Bear Co.; tel. (802) 985-3001, Internet https://www.vtbear.com.

Tom’s of Maine; tel. (207) 985-2944, Internet https://www.toms-of-maine.com.

Cape Cod Potato Chips Co.; tel. (508) 775-3206.

Hershey Food Corp., 120 S. Sierra St., Oakdale, CA 95361; tel. (209) 848-8126, Internet https://www.hersheys.com.

Crayola Factory, Two Rivers Landing, 30 Centre Square, Easton, PA 18042; tel. (610) 515-8000, Internet https://www.crayola.com.