By DAVID STONE, Our Town Temple

People in Temple and around the world have had a lot of “me” time during the past two years — mostly because of pandemic-related isolations. Some turned to online classes to pass the time, others started new businesses. And some — thousands actually — got into Lego.

“Online sales have gone through the roof,” said Lego spokesperson Jennifer MacDonald. “Adults today are overwhelmed, and many dream of escaping everyday life. Lego provides that distraction.”

Amberlyn Russell, adult services coordinator at the Temple Public Library, has been a Lego “engineer” for about two years. She also oversees Temple’s Adult Lego Club at the local library.

“We started the club in October 2021, and it’s for adults,” Russell said. “Our numbers vary, but we’ve had up to seven people and interest is growing.”

“Libraries often have Lego clubs for children,” she said. “We’re one of a few in the county that offer an adult club. You might say we are pioneers.”

According to MacDonald, Lego bricks are more popular than ever, and adults and “kidults” (children between 12 and 18) are the fastest growing Lego-loving populations.

“Lego, the world’s largest toymaker, is zeroing in on a growing demographic — stressed-out adults,” MacDonald said. The 87-year-old Danish company now bills its brightly colored bricks as a way “to drown out the noise of the day and achieve a measure of mindfulness.”

The company’s most popular kits include the Central Perk cafe from ‘Friends’ and a vintage 1989 Batmobile. Cool stuff!

According to MacDonald, 54 percent of adults today admit that stress disrupts key aspects of their life — sleep or mood, for instance — at least weekly.

“People struggle to relax,” she said. “Unwinding can be hard. About 72 percent of adults engage in play time to help destress and relax. Surprisingly, 61 percent are turning to board games and Lego play to destress. That’s more than yoga.”

During a recent conversation with Our Town Temple, MacDonald told the story of a Lego customer in the UK who was furloughed from work because of the pandemic.

“Lego helped her get out of bed,” MacDonald said. “She was a fine arts graduate, and during her COVID break she created more than a dozen portraits of celebrities, including Billie Eilish and Joe Exotic. A video she shared of her David Bowie has more than 80,000 views.”

At Temple Public Library, most Lego participants bring in their own sets to work on during club time.

“We work on individual projects, but we like to discuss what we are working on,” Russell said. “The instructions that come with Lego kits are often just pictures, very few words. Sometimes they are tricky — we give each other advice. We can bounce ideas off each other and offer encouragement.”

“It’s a relaxing hobby,” she said. “We have enough bricks where we can build whatever we want. Sometimes we build to a theme such as ‘space’ or ‘a forest,’ and we get creative. We’ve built really cool things.”

The Temple Public Library’s Adult Lego Club meets on the second Saturday of every month from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

“This is the perfect space for those with similar interests and a love of Lego,” Russell added. “We’re a growing community, and we have a lot of fun.”

A Lego NASA rocket built by members of the Temple Public Library’s Adult Lego Club is shown on display. The club meets on the second Saturday of every month from 11 a.m. until about 12:30 p.m. Local Lego engineers are invited to attend! Courtesy photo

TWO’S DAY | 2/22/22

AROUND TOWN: beat it!

Stick-Fit Drumming class participants get with the beat at Sammons Community Center, 2220 W. Ave. D in Temple, using drumsticks and exercise balls. The center maintains a full schedule of physical and fun actitivities daily.  David Stone photo

AROUND TOWN: the Katy needs help

A fading but still glorious Katy Depot, seen from underneath the Adams Street overpass just east of Downtown, has been the subject of recent renovation talks by city staff, potential developers and social media chatters. Consulting firms have recommended renovating the old Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway depot into a microbrewery, an ice cream parlor or a cafe. Online recommendations have called for converting the aging building into a Steam-Punk Tea Room, a music venue or a Temple Wildcat football museum. More on the latter to come. David Stone photo

By DAVID STONE, Our Town Temple

Twenty years after Temple became a town, one of its most prominent residents got a hankering for something sweet. I guess he couldn’t decide between candy and bubble gum.

Since finding quality confections in a wild Texas town wasn’t an easy task, Bennett Smith decided to make his own. In 1901, he opened the Temple Candy Company, and business boomed. Big time. The Texas Gum Company followed eight years later, and the two businesses — both operated under Smith’s guidance — thrived in the same building on South First Street.

Smith was a big believer in purchasing items Made in Texas, a motto he made popular statewide. Manufacturing jobs in Texas — outside of the larger cities of Houston, San Antonio and Fort Worth — were rare. Smith vowed to give employment to people and to keep the money in Texas.

The two businesses together employed an average of 75 people, according to an article in the Temple Mirror. In the fall — leading up to Christmas — more than 100 workers kept the “sweet machines” going.

The Texas Gum Company produced some of the top brands money could buy, including Smith’s Mello Mint, Pickle Chicle (I’d pay big money to try this) and Peerless Chips. The gums’ popularity far exceeded Texas boundaries.

According to the Mirror newspaper, both plants were equipped with the most modern equipment available at the time. Smith also was an advocate for worker’s rights, the Mirror stated, and work areas were “well lit, well ventilated, cheerful and comfortable.”

Temple Candy Company produced 250 candy varieties and was known for its chocolate bars, cream-filled chocolate candies and hard candies. The most popular confection was the O’Sally, a candy with a vanilla fudge center, dipped in caramel, rolled in roasted peanuts and covered in chocolate. It was a favorite of sweet teeth across the Lone Star state and beyond.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Smith and his investors “were salaried men, and none had more than a few hundred dollars to spare in the enterprise.”

Still both companies flourished into two of the most successful manufacturing enterprises in the state.

In 1914, the Texas Gum Company decided to expand its chewy lineup, and they enlisted the help of local residents to pick a name for the new product. More than 1,200 suggestions poured in, and the company selected the name “Chicamah” submitted by W.D. Shaw.  According to reports, the selection was unanimous.

The company said at the time that “Chicamah” was a Native American word meaning “good.” The new gum got the Cadillac treatment with fancy packaging and a big advertising budget. The peppermint-flavored gum was immensely popular.

Shaw received $25 — and gum — for naming the newest member of the company’s lineup.

To boost gum sales, Texas Gum Company began producing flat or “sheet” gum that could be packaged with Temple-made baseball cards. Stars like Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson were pictured on the lithograph cards, and they became top sellers.

The company was awarded the exclusive rights to gum sales at the State Fair of Texas beginning in 1917, and with a little help from hometown governor Miriam Ferguson, Temple gums and candies were awarded contracts for sales at all state institutions in 1924.

Over the years, the candy business boomed in Temple. Other companies included Gem Confectionary, Model Confectionery, Triangle Candy Co., American Confectionery and Pappas’ Olympia Candy Kitchen.

The Temple Candy and Texas Gum companies shut down in 1950.

Temple haircuts among nation’s cheapest

By DAVID STONE, Our Town Temple

Is your mane getting a bit long, or perhaps the ol’ mullet needs a trim? Be grateful you are in Temple — home of some of the cheapest haircuts in America.

Seriously, the average basic haircut today in Temple is about $25.  You can certainly pay more, but then again you can pay much less as well.

Men’s haircuts are generally less expensive — the average man’s basic haircut in Temple is right at $20. The highest price for a man’s cut locally was $40, but that did include shampoo, hot towels and cologne. The least expensive haircut was $9.

Women’s rates fluctuate even more — and so does the definition of basic haircut. The average women’s haircut in Temple was nearly $30 but that figure jumped to as much as $65 at some of the city’s more upscale establishments.

Still, looking at average costs, Temple is much cheaper than many cities in the U.S. The nationwide average for a haircut is $53, according to youprobablyneedahaircut.com.

The average nationwide price for a men’s haircut was $40, the price of that upscale Temple hair-care service.

Like in Temple, men’s haircuts nationwide averaged about $10 to $20 less than women’s haircuts.

The youprobablyneedahaircut.com website listed Omaha, Neb., and Boise, Idaho, as cities with the lowest average haircut cost at $29 and $32, respectively. Obviously they have never gotten their ears lowered in Temple!

Of course, there are still old-school barbers — mostly in small-town America — where you can get a cheaper trim.

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On this day in 1836, former Mexican soldier Nepomuceno Navarro cast his lot with the Texas revolutionaries by enlisting in Juan N. Seguín's company of Tejanos. The company served as rear guard for General Houston's army, and Navarro served with Seguín at the battle of San Jacinto. For his participation in the Texas Revolution he received donation and bounty land grants and a pension. He was a member of the Texas Veterans Association until his death, in San Antonio in 1877.

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