Just outside of Jordan, Minn., is the brightest yellow barn
I've ever seen. I'm pretty sure even I could hit the broad side.
As you approach the barn with its bright paint and brighter
lights, you'll see signs in Burma Shave fashion touting 56 kinds of licorice,
homemade lefse and 4,019 puzzles for sale. Calling itself Minnesota's Largest
Candy Store (and America's Largest Puzzle Store), the official name is Jim's
Apple Farm.
When Herbert "Hippy" Wagner returned from war many
years ago, he saw a need to diversify the farm. And now he's the one in the
bakery making up homemade apple and peach pies which you know are baking when
the 100-watt bulb in the middle of the very large pie sign on the outside of the
barn is lit.
The sweet venture is family run as Hippy and his wife, their
son Robert and his wife, and granddaughter Christine help behind the counter
and with stocking more than 150 types of root beer. But I can't confirm that
because Hippy doesn't do interviews. Hippy doesn't even publish the phone
number of the candy store. Apparently, Hippy doesn't believe in marketing
beyond the signs leading up to the store.
But the barn has become a destination for us at least once
every summer where we plunk down our $1.89 for Henry Weinhardt's root beer and
some rather odd candies our children find.
The candy store is only open from mid-July through just
after Thanksgiving. The staff use some of their off-season to spruce up some of
their displays and attend the Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago where they find
some of the unique goodies.
This year, the store featured an oversized Ferris wheel with
seats filled with popcorn. You can find it next to the six-foot bubble gum
machine near the check-out.
And you've heard of the unpolitically correct Cigar Store
Indian? Well, Jim's has the Native American Indian complete with headdress made
out of lollipops.
The store has a lot of the nostalgia candies that my mom and
aunts enjoyed like Black Cow Chocolate Caramels and the Bonomo Turkish Taffy.
They even have the candy cigarettes I used to get at Snyder Drug.
In addition to these, though, you've got the bacon gumballs,
gummy bacon, bacon frosting and bacon mints along with a whole host of other
bacony things, including actual bacon. There's the five-pound gummy bear and
the five-pound Hershey chocolate bar (for a mere $49.99) along with the world's
largest Tootsie Pop which is roughly the size of your head and retails for
$9.99 and actually holds 9-13 other lollipops in it, depending on which one you
buy.
The most surprising "snack" of the day, however,
goes to the chocolate-covered insects and the Mexican worm larvae. Really, they
aren't delicacies in my world. Instead, I took home Asher's chocolate-covered
pretzels. Salty and sweet. Perfect!
If it's the puzzle part of the store that brings you in, be
sure you can find just about anything--including a very detailed puzzle of Da
Vinci's Last Supper with 13,200 pieces. That should keep you busy this winter.
The store is located on the west side of Hwy. 169 just
before you hit Jordan if you're travelling north to the Twin Cities. It's open
seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and, while they don't take credit
cards, they do take cash and checks and have an ATM on-site.
It's a fun place to go and explore if you don't mind saying,
"No, you can't get that" a lot and your children are well-rested. We
had a lot of fun with our photo ops, but you may find it useful to set a budget
before you go in. Things ring up quickly!
[After I wrote this, I Googled Jim's Apple Farm and what
should appear? The only interview Hippy has ever done! In mid-August, KSTP-TV
aired an interview Jason Davis did with Hippy. You can see it at http://bit.ly/Jims2012.
And, if his name is Herbert, why is it called Jim's Apple Farm? According to
the interview, Hippy didn't think Herbert sounded very good as a business
name!]
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