PHILIPSBURG — The Sweet Palace in Philipsburg has been delighting candy lovers with thousands of treats for nearly three decades, becoming a destination that's helping revitalize a historic mining town.
"You get little kids in here, and they'll watch the thing for a long time," Dale Siegford said, referring to the shop's popular taffy puller that mesmerizes visitors.
The Sweet Palace opened in downtown Philipsburg in 1998 when the town was struggling economically.
Co-owners Shirley Beck and Dale Siegford wanted to save the town that had 11 empty bank-owned buildings at the time and their sweet solution has proven successful.
Check out the tasty treats at the Sweet Palace:
"It is a fun thing to do. People don't come in crabby, and believe me, if they come in crabby, they don't leave crabby," Beck said.
Visitors from around the world flock to the 3,000-square-foot candy shop, leaving their mark on a chalkboard that displays hometowns ranging from Switzerland to Alaska, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Florida.
Among the shop's more than 1,000 candy selections, huckleberry taffy stands out as the Montana specialty and customer favorite.
"This is our most popular flavor. I make at least probably three times as much of this as I make maybe the other flavors," Siegford said.
The taffy-making process is a carefully orchestrated production. After the taffy spends 20 minutes on the puller, it's cooked for about two hours before being wrapped by a vintage machine dating back to 1918.
The century-old wrapper processes an impressive one million pieces of taffy annually.
Worker Cheri Rivera handles the pieces that escape the automated wrapper. "The best part about my job is there's never a boring moment. We're always busy," Rivera said.
During our visit, Beck invited us to join the candy-making process, drizzling white chocolate over dark and milk chocolate-dipped sandwich cookies.
For Beck, the true adventure in running The Sweet Palace goes beyond the candy.
"It is always the people. You can do whatever product you're doing; you can make whatever you're making, but the important thing is the people that you get to see."
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