Finding Sweet Way To Say Thank You Is Never Saccharine
Wake up on the wrong side of the bed, sourpuss? Do yourself a favor. Put down the newspaper, climb into your car and treat yourself to Charlie Taranto.
Walk into Charlie’s store and just try to keep the corners of your mouth down. There he stands in his burgundy apron, a baking pan of hot cookies the size of saucers in his hands. The smell strikes the saliva glands like a spout taps a Vermont maple’s sap.
“I want to make people smile,” Charlie says, beaming. He’s a 30-something kid in a candy store. “Chocolate does bring happiness.”
He ought to know. He’s surrounded by it at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in Post Falls. Vanilla creams. Haystacks. Peanut butter fudge nuggets. Iced cappuccino truffles. All handmade and shipped from Colorado where Charlie learned the confection business four years ago.
“I was made to be the candy man. I can’t think of a more perfect job,” he says, handing a customer a bag of English toffee.
Chocolate says it all in Charlie’s world. Take, for instance, his recent thank you to the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children. Charlie’s son, Shawn, was born with clubfeet.
When Charlie and his wife, Candy, (really) found themselves without insurance a few years ago, the Shriners hospital in Spokane opened its doors to Shawn, no charge.
Charlie is never at a loss for words. But “thank-you” just didn’t seem enough. So, he gave the hospital a three-foot tall, 40-pound chocolate Santa that fate dropped on his baking table.
“It would be fun if they made it a pinata,” Charlie says, his eyes widening as new ideas whirl through his brain. “We could drill a hole in the head. I could supply chocolate eggs…”
Charlie knows chocolate isn’t a cure-all. But it smooths the rough road, just for a few minutes. It makes people smile - and that’s really all he wants.
The Play’s the Thing
Stephen Shortridge’s theatrical debut in Coeur d’Alene comes after a trial run in Los Angeles. He’s tried and tested, folks, so buy a ticket for the Lake City Playhouse’s production of “On Golden Pond,” which opens Friday.
You might remember him as Beau, the southern Sweathog, in “Welcome Back Kotter,” or as Dave Reed, Brooke’s fiance on “The Bold and the Beautiful.” He’s done his share of commercials, too. But don’t look for him on stage for the Playhouse production. He’s the director.
See the U.S.A.
You can take the kids out of the valley but you can’t take the valley out of the kids. And that’s good.
When Kellogg High students James Grondin, Paul Power, Jennie Jacobus, Josh Carver and Amber Hasz travel to Washington, D.C., this spring, they plan to find out how the democratic process can do more for the Silver Valley.
They’ll do the town, meeting congressional representatives, cabinet members and lobbyists.
Help these kids become Silver Valley ambassadors. They’re trying to raise $1,169 each for the trip. To invest in the future, call 786-1371.
MEMO: See also sidebar which appeared with this story under headline “Tell us about best friends”