(post, Kim Carlson)
I remember walking to Maclay's Market when I was in fourth grade and buying long sticks of Big Daddy bubble gum. When I say long sticks I mean 9 or 10 inches — good for a day's worth of chomping at least. The flavors were classic: grape, cherry, green apple, red hot — but my favorite was watermelon. I wish I'd kept one of those around just for the sake of nostalgia. Everybody knows, though, that they were good only when they were fresh and chewy. If you waited too long to indulge, they'd turn hard as rebar. (Come to think of it, Big Daddy's kind of looked like pastel-colored rebar.) And what was that floury white powder on the outside? Turns out I'm not the only one with fond memories of Big Daddy. Here's a sweet story I found when I Googled it. One more thing? Each Big Daddy baton cost a nickel. Does anything cost a nickel now?