USA Today Best Candy Store

The Contest

In May 2024, the USA Today Top 10 Readers Choice award panel emailed us to say we were nominated for the "Best Candy Store" category in their Top 10 series of contests. The email was lost in a sea of advertisements, until a customer walked up to the counter a week later and said "I saw you on the USA Today Top 10 contest, and I voted for you!"

Well, that set things in motion.

We put something up on the Facebook page about the contest and the fire was lit. It probably helped that the store has been earning high marks for nine decades though hard work making a simple but remarkable salt water taffy recipe. Fans from around the world let us know that they voted and the news called and the TV interview happened and contest fever just went wild.

June 10th voting ended, and we didn't know where we stood- the leaderboard (list of rankings) was closed a week before the voting ended.

Between the time the voting ended and the results were announced, many many customers stopped in or sent messages of support and shared their kind affection for the The Taffy Shop. They shared their memories that made the victory so sweet on June 19th when we were announced to be in the #1 spot on the Top 10 list. WOW!

This is a win for the fans, for the loyal and new customers, for the current and past employees, and most notably for Lowell Slack, who in 1934 introduced his recipe for salt water taffy to Estes Park and started a sweet tale of joy that is known as "The Taffy Shop". His wife Lavonna ran the store after his death and sold the store the Igel family in 2014, who value and have preserved the history, tradition and original recipe of the shop.

The staff that makes Estes Park Salt Water Taffy today, who help at the counter and package mail order shipped across the country all have a sense of pride to be part of the history of this place and deliver a product that isn't just the best taffy anywhere, but a golden memory and now, officially, the Best Candy Store in the USA!

THANKS for your amazing support in the contest, and more importantly, for your loyal patronage over the years. We hope to hear from you soon!