The Fudge Guy: Spokane man pays happiness forward one square at a time

When Burton Cummings performed in Airway Heights last January, Marc Connally fudged him with a container of creamy maple candy he named for a Guess Who song.

There was no need to call security.

Known around Spokane as “The Fudge Guy,” Connally has taken that random acts of kindness concept to new levels.

“I’m out of control,” he said.

“What happens to some people after they retire is they kind of withdraw in themselves if they don’t have a big network of friends, social outreach and stuff. I use fudge to stay young in retirement and just constantly create new stuff and meet new people and put smiles on people’s faces.”

He calls this “fudging.”

You don’t need to pay him for it. You don’t even have to eat it. On a recent trip to the Oregon Coast, Connally hit a gas station, a brewery and abreakfast spot. “I was fudging all the way down,” he said. “Some people might say, ‘This is a little weird, I’m not comfortable with somebody just giving me food.’ I will ask first. They all say yes. If they then choose to not eat it, oh well.”

Connally’s affection for fudge came from his mother, Oma.

Raised in the Tri-Cities, he recalled helping Oma out in the kitchen as she packed her scrumptious holiday candy into recycled brandy snifters adorned with handcrafted Santa hats. It was a special gift for her three sons. “Once a year, we got the treat and the rest of the year, no fudge,” he said.

A Washington State University graduate, Connally holds a degree in mechanical engineering. During his pre-fudging days, he worked in the rocket propulsion laboratory at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California. “I’m not a rocket scientist, but pretty close,” he said. After moving to Spokane with his wife, Debbie, he decided to pay Oma’s yummy tradition forward to his own son, Bryan, who was very young when she passed away. “I found her pots and pans and I found the recipe she used. I wanted to share a piece of my childhood with him, this wonderful Christmas fudge, and I also wanted him to know a little bit of the grandma he never knew.”

It turned into something bigger.

Connally began gifting his candy to friends, meter readers and newspaper carriers. For a time, he sold Oma’s Mountain Fudge through a company called Debbie Kay’s Confections, but now runs his one-man operation from home. There are no secret ingredients. The simple recipe is credited to former President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s wife, Mamie. “Mamie’s Million Dollar Fudge, it’s what my mom used and it’s what I use,” he said.

This is not a money-making venture.

“It’s all a labor of love,” said Connally. Over the past five years, he has donated more than $6,000 worth of fudge to a medley of charitable causes, including the Leavenworth wildfire relief fund, the Spokane Ales for ALS fundraiser and the Innovia Foundation.

Connally delights in the thrill of a surprise fudge.

Librarians. Grocery checkers. Mail carriers. He even fudged the guy who served us coffee at the South Hill Brew Peddler where we chatted. “I would say my favorite is going to be his peanut butter white chocolate with the full Reese’s cup in there … absolutely fantastic,” Brew Peddler employee Seth Allen said. Like a child with a bag of goodies, Connally spread a sampling of his 300-plus fudges out on the table and described each one in mouth-watering detail. There’s Orange Crème and Limoncello Lemon Drop. There are fudges infused with hints of lavender, espresso and local craft beers.

Known as “Uncle Fudge” to nieces and nephews, his confections have traversed the globe.

“I haven’t been to all seven continents, but my fudge has,” Connally said. To fulfill that sugary mission, he enlisted help from an army of fudging accomplices. While visiting England, he even prepared a batch of Strawberries and Cream fudge at the hotel and handed it out to tennis fans at Wimbledon. In an effort to fudge Antarctica, he contacted the McMurdo Station for research and pleaded his sticky case. “I said, ‘Hi guys, I’m a happy-go-lucky fudge maker and I share it everywhere and I’d like to mail you guys some fudge. Are you in?’ “

Of course, they were.

One of Connally’s most satisfying fudging moments arrived while he was working at Fairchild Air Force Base. After a large holiday military deployment, he helped coordinate a mass mailing effort which distributed fudge to both distant troops and their families at home. They all enjoyed those luscious sweets together at Christmas through a video chat.

Connally is now working on a special order for a Southwest Airlines pilot. “I’m gonna take Whoop Ass Bacon Hot Sauce and put it into fudge for my dear friend, Tom,” he said.

“I’m too over the top with fudge. I just have too much fun.”