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How a costume maker convinced Hersheypark to ‘chocolatize’ their old‑timey theme park

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article A theme park has to have an identity. If you want to know the two things that Hersheypark does especially well, just approach the entrance. There you will meet a friendly candy mascot – perhaps a Hershey bar, Reese’s […]

An engraving of the surrender of British forces to George Washington at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.
Michael Lee/Moment via Getty Images via The Conversation

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A chair-shaped bean bag available for the public to borrow from the Fraser Sensory Lending Library is displayed at Fraser Richfield. (Photo by Melody Hoffmann)

Sensory tools available to public at Fraser

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The Debre Selam Medhanealem Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is located at 2601 30th Avenue South. (Photo by Margie O’Loughlin)

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The Crossword Puzzle

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The Glenwood-Inglewood Company in 1910. The Glenwood and Inglewood springs were on adjacent property and ran as separate water companies until about 1896. Minnesota Historical Society.

DO DRINK THE WATER

Before a new house is completed today in the Twin Cities, the utilities (sewer, water, natural gas, electricity, etc.) are already in place. The owners take it for granted that their new home will …

Dredging operation at Lake Hiawatha in 1929, courtesy of the Minnesota Digital Library

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At 37th and Hiawatha, you can see the iStorage self-storage in the former Dayton's warehouse, the General Mills grain elevators on the far east, and the Atkinson ADM Mill on the south side of the intersection. (Photo by Tesha M. Christensen)

Atkinson ADM Mill still operating

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Minneapolis' second Black fire chief, Bryan Tyner, speaks at the renaming ceremony in Longfellow on March 17. "I'm just so happy to see this day finally here," said Tyner. (Photo by Tesha M. Christensen)

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The costume maker who convinced Hersheypark to embrace candy mascots and ‘chocolatize’ their old-timey theme park

Hersheypark underwent a total transformation in the 1970s, when candy mascots and thrill rides replaced barn animals and old-timey recreations of Tudor England.

A special Los Angeles preview event for the movie 'Ramayana' on March 30, 2026.

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Michelangelo's 16th-century fresco 'The Last Judgment.' Sistine Chapel collection via Wikimedia Commons

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How a costume maker convinced Hersheypark to ‘chocolatize’ their old‑timey theme park

What happened at the end of the Revolutionary War? Here’s how Americans set up a brand-new country once the fighting ended

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The costume maker who convinced Hersheypark to embrace candy mascots and ‘chocolatize’ their old-timey theme park

From ‘A Little Princess’ to ‘Black Panther,’ how Hollywood films have reimagined the South Asian epic ‘Ramayana’