Sunthing Special

Squirrel's Den candy store in Mansfield has two scenes from the movie "Shawshank Redemption" made out of chocolate.

… go early, as I just found out today (Saturday) that 95% of the downtown closes at 3 or 4. I had gone with my youngest daugher to Mansfield Art Center to drop off some pieces that will be on sale this holiday season at the Mansfield Art Fair. I wanted to make it more of a fun day, so when we were done with that, around 3:30, we went to the Richfield Carrousel Park on Main Street. For $2 she got 3 rides on the gorgeous carousel, which took about 30 minutes. That was well worth it. Then we walked to the charming Coney Island Diner across the street, but that had just closed at 4. We started walking all around and every bistro, restaurant, cafe, etc. was closed. The only place we found open was the Athens Greek Restaurant, which was open until 8. But I’m sorry to say the meal there was very disappointing. Anyway, we did have time to run into the delicous-smelling Squirrel’s Den candy shop, where you can watch them make candy. Unfortunately, they were closing in a few minutes so they had turned off their candy machine (they were nice enough to turn it back on to give us a short demo). We were able to drive by the Mansfield Reformatory before it was too dark, though — what a piece of architecture that is! The point is, there are places to eat and things to do in Mansfield, but plan on doing them early!
P.S. As proof of the restorative power of a day trip, when we returned home my daughter said she felt she had just come back from a long vacation! (we were gone from 1:30 to 6:30 p.m.)

Mansfield Reformatory

P.P.S. For fans of the movie “Shawshank Redemption,” 95% of the movie was filmed in the Mansfield area and there is a self-guided driving tour you can find by visiting www.shawshanktrail.com.