Home again, home again: Sarris mini parade van returns to Canonsburg
By Katherine Mansfield
staff Writer
mansfield@observer-Reporter.Com2 min read
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Photos: Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
A vintage Sarris Candies parade van waits in the bed of Tom Kelsall’s truck to be reunited with the candy company’s second-generation owner Bill Sarris Monday morning. Kelsall found and purchased the van during a trip to Asheville, and was glad to bring the sweet piece of local history home.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
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Photos: Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Justin Cox, left, and Sarris Candies employees unload a vintage Sarris mini parade van outside the ice cream parlor in Canonsburg Monday morning. Tom Kelsall, far right, returned the sweet piece of local history to Bill Sarris, center right, after discovering the van in a North Carolina antique store over the holidays.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
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Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Bill Sarris, left, shakes hands with Tom Kelsall outside Sarris Chocolate Factory and Ice Cream Parlor Monday morning, while Kelsall’s cousin Justin Cox looks on. “Thanks for bringing it back,” Sarris said, referring to the bold Sarris’ mini parade van Kelsall found at an antique store in Asheville, N.C., over the Christmas holiday.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
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Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Bill Sarris, left, and Tom Kelsall, of Claysville, pose with a vintage Sarris mini parade van outside the Sarris chocolate factory in Canonsburg. Kelsall returned the van, which he found while antiquing with his wife, Susan, in North Carolina over the holidays, to Sarris Monday morning.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
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Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
The miniature Ford Sarris Candies parade van is right at home on a sidewalk outside Sarris Candies in Canonsburg, where the sweet ride was hand-delivered to Bill Sarris by Tom Kelsall, a Claysville native who purchased the piece in Asheville over the holidays. Sarris said there is a place at Sarris Candies for the vintage van.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
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Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
The Sarris Candies miniature parade van, which second-generation owner Bill Sarris said his father purchased in the late 1980s, will receive a new paint job before appearing in local parades, including the Canonsburg Fourth of July parade.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
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Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Bill Sarris and Tom Kelsall, right, recount the miniature Sarris parade van’s journey from a North Carolina antique store, where Kelsall discovered it over the holidays, and home again to Canonsburg. Kelsall reunited Sarris and the vintage van Monday morning outside ice cream parlor.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
A miniature Sarris Candies parade van is home again, home again, thanks to the sharp eyes of a Claysville antique aficionado and his wife, who discovered the piece in a North Carolina store over the Christmas holiday.
In late December, Tom and Susan Kelsall spotted the vintage van inside Asheville’s Antique Tobacco Barn, purchased the sweet piece of local history on the spot and trucked it back to Washington County.
On Monday morning, Tom Kelsall reunited the van with Sarris’ second-generation owner Bill Sarris outside Canonsburg’s world-famous chocolate shop and ice cream parlor.
“Thanks for bringing it back,” Sarris said to Kelsall as the two admired the shiny red Ford miniature, which bears the company’s iconic SC logo. “It’s pretty cool.”
Sarris said he hasn’t seen the van since it left the company warehouse some time ago. He was surprised it found its way to North Carolina and had remained relatively intact, and was struck with nostalgia when the little engine that could was unloaded in front of the chocolate shop Monday.
“It’s like a dog that found its way home,” he said, hand resting gently on the bright-red miniature vehicle. “My dad bought this in 1986. We called this The Little Clown Car. I don’t remember the silver bumpers.”
Sarris said the sweet little ride will receive a face-lift, including new skin, motors and tires, before debuting in this year’s Canonsburg Fourth of July parade.
“We’re going to get it all ‘new-ed’ up for the parade, make it new. Just update it,” he said. “It’s really a cute thing. People see our regular vans in the parade; they’ll get to see this little thing coming by. It’s a novelty. It’s fun.”
Before making the especially sweet delivery (aptly, on the bed of a red Ford truck), Kelsall and his cousin Justin Cox patched and shined the miniature Sarris Candies van.