Our fall season officially kicked off last week with a trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, exploring the Smoky Mountains and navigating everyone’s excitement over cooler temperatures. I returned home tired but refreshed by the change of scenery, and excited to get our home ready for the fall season. Amidst the mums and gourds and pine straw bales, we have amassed quite a few happy jack-0-lanterns of all sizes and materials that I’ve been slowly spreading throughout the house. Some of those jack-o-lanterns are old familiar receptacles for Halloween night – buckets my children took to preschool, felt versions we bought on various fall trips, and even my own 1970’s childhood version. Those jack-o-lanterns represent the one-time excuse to indulge in fall’s favorite sugar rush. They collect the one Halloween accessory that gives pumpkins a run for their money – candy!
For some reason, my children have always been more excited about opening the door and passing out candy, rather than going out to trick-or-treat for themselves. Between church activities, school parties, field trips, and “trunk or treats”, they have usually gotten their fix for costumes and sweets prior to Halloween night. They have taken a special thrill in picking out and making sure we have the “good” candy. And certainly no fruit or healthy options that would disgrace the whole experience! They may not enjoy the typical trick-or-treating experience, but they’ve set the appropriate priorities.
I still remember the thrill of walking door to door around my neighborhood to trick-or-treat. I could barely contain the anticipation and fun of coming home and dumping my orange-smiling plastic bucket out onto the living room carpet to examine my candy haul. The adult thrill of turning down the “seasonal” candy aisle at the grocery store is similar, but not quite the same. The closest excitement in recent memory was my visit last year to Asheville’s version of the quintessential candy store chain, Rocket Fizz. I’m sure my eyes glazed over right away when I walked through the door to the shop on Battery Park Avenue. Nothing gives that “kid in a candy store” feel quite like the wall-to-wall, rainbow selection of sodas, taffy, pop rocks, and every form of vintage candy, concert posters and quirky gags. Colors, flavors both sweet and sour, and plenty of sugar fantasies… this store is the stuff of jack-o-lantern dreams.
Hello & welcome! I’m Haley Montgomery, and I’m the designer and owner of 
