77 Years Ago
Bill and Dorothy Harmsen will open the Jolly Rancher ice cream shop at 1113 Washington avenue, at the Welcome to Golden arch this week, and as a feature of the Grand Opening Saturday, May 28, will give FREE Rancho Creme cones to all who visit their shop.
Colorado Transcript - May 26, 1949
Jolly Rancher is world-famous for its hard candy, but it started as an ice cream shop right here in Golden. The Harmsens operated the Golden store from 1949-1951. During that time, they learned that even the best ice cream is a hard sell during the winter, so they began formulating candy. Their first big hit was the cinnamon-flavored Fire Stix. From there, they moved on to fruit-flavored hard candy. That was popular enough that they closed the ice cream shop and opened a candy factory on Ward Road in Wheat Ridge.
The company was eventually purchased by Hershey, so the candies are no longer made in Colorado.
The Golden History Museum has a collection of Jolly Rancher artifacts donated by the Harmsen family. Learn more….
