Wednesday, November 2, 2011

"I've Got a Golden Ticket..."


The final stop on our field trip was to tour the Joy Cone Factory. All I have to say is.....Too Cool For Words. When I was a kid, I used to watch Mister Roger's Neighborhood on PBS channel 8. In my favorite episode, Mister Rogers toured the Crayola factory. I wanted to tour that factory so badly! I would watch every day, hoping they re-ran the crayon episode so I could sit in front of the TV and be amazed by the machinery.  Getting to see the Joy Cone factory was even better! We saw every aspect of production, and we were all wide eyed at the process of turning ingredients into batter, and batter into cones, and cones into packaging, and packaging into huge boxes.  I feel lucky to live on this side of the industrial revolution. Giant machinery is truly a modern marvel.

 There were no cameras allowed inside the facilities because we saw top-secret stuff inside. Besides, we had to wear hair nets, and I don't want any pictures of me in a hair net on the internet.  What's worse, my husband had to wear a hair net and a beard net because of his goatee.  I think that any man who has to wear a beard net at work should get paid a dollar more an hour for pain and suffering.  It was all worth it, though, for a chance to see how a pink ice cream cone is made." It's classified information. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."  (Name that movie!)

 I felt like I was touring Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, and I had a golden ticket.

♪♫ I've got a golden ticket, I've got a golden chance to make my way, and with a golden ticket it's a golden day!♪♫♫♪♫

OK, enough singing.

The ice cream cone was invented at the World's Fair in 1904 when an ice cream vendor and a pastry vendor had booths side by side.  The pastry vendor served meats and savory dishes in his waffle bowls.  One day, the ice cream vendor ran out of bowls to serve customers, so he asked the waffle bowl vendor next door to make him something he could serve ice cream in.  The ice cream cone was invented, and the rest is history.  The Joy Cone Factory is getting ready to celebrate 100 years in the business and is the largest manufacturer of cones in the world. They produce over 1.5 billion cones per year.  They supply cones for companies like Mc Donald's, Dairy Queen, Burger King, and many others, as well as grocery stores.

A Cool Random Fact:
-All of the broken or defective cones are crushed in a silo and fed to livestock.

At the end of our tour, we all got to enjoy a free ice cream cone, and we were given a box of cones to take home. I may not be a kid, but this was the coolest field trip I've ever been on!



It was such a delightful day!






2 comments:

  1. Sounds very interesting and cool! And you don't have to be a kid to enjoy field trips. I'm a teacher an often enjoy the field trips just as much as my kids do :)

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  2. I loved that Mr. Rogers episode, too!

    What fun! Sounds like you really had a great time!

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