3rd-generation candy cane-maker shares his trade at Tyler event downtown today

YOUNGSTOWN

Doris Chianello loves all things Youngstown – everything from having shopped at the former Strouss' and Higbee’s department stores to making candy canes.

“I’m elated with the way things are turning around” downtown, the 75-year-old Coitsville woman said.

She also was pleased with the progress she was making gently rolling two candy canes as part of a workshop she and an estimated 80 others of all ages attended Saturday at the Tyler Mahoning Valley History Center, 325 W. Federal St.

The class was part of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society’s Memories of Christmas Past events.

As she carefully tried to apply the right amount of pressure in rolling and bending her candy canes, Chianello admitted she had never seen how the treats were made. That changed, however, thanks to a demonstration Bill Rich gave.

Rich, who works for Cintas Facility Services, a uniform business in North Jackson, is a third-generation member of a family that began producing the striped treats more than 70 years ago.

Read more about the event — and the holiday staple — in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.