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CHAMPAIGN — Candy canes just like Vriner’s Confectionary used to make will again be available in Champaign this Christmas season, in the same place they were first made.
The candy canes will be just like Vriner’s because they’ll be made under the direction of Peter Vrinios, who has been keeping the 128-year-old tradition alive in Florida on the very same marble table his family made candy on at the original Vriner’s.
It’s become a well-loved holiday tradition there, too.
“If you do something for 128 years, it gets people’s attention, because you have to be doing something right,” Vrinios said.
In the years since Vriner’s closed its doors at 55 E. Main St. in downtown Champaign, the building served as home to other businesses, but today it’s part of The Venue CU, a wedding and event space.
Venue CU owners Dan and Miranda Church and Greg and Christine Bugbee made an effort to restore the shop to much of its former glory, highlighting old wood paneling and tilework as they transformed it into an upscale cocktail lounge.
As they settled into the space, the owners made contact with Vrinios and even hosted his wedding there.
That led to more communication, which led to the Venue getting a shipment of candy canes to give out in 2023.
“We got the candy canes up here, but they still weren’t really available to the community in that way,” Dan Church said. “So we thought the next step was, ‘How do we get a big batch of them for people to take part in and really build a story around bringing that legacy, that history, back to Champaign?’”
This year, Vrinios had an idea: What if the Venue CU owners came down and learned how to make candy canes right alongside him?
This weekend, that’s what they plan to do.
On the same marble slab that has helped create thousands and thousands of candies enjoyed by Champaign-area residents through the years, they’ll create a few hundred to bring back and sell in a limited time.
Back in the day, Vrinios said when the Christmas season was over and there were unsold candy canes, he and his dad and brother would travel out to all of their friends’ houses to drop off a few boxes.
“We would pay a visit and deliver a dozen canes, maybe have a beer with them, and then go on to the next place. That became part of the tradition too,” he said. “Not only that, we’d stop at the Cunningham Children’s Home, and they got candy canes from us every year.”
To this day, Vrinios still ships friends some candies from Florida.
While the Venue CU owners expect the candy canes they bring back to sell out far before they’d have to deliver any for free, they’re excited to bring back the old tradition for people who grew up with Vriner’s.
They might be able to bring back another classic tradition, too: orange-and-blue canes.
Vrinios said that concept started when a previous University of Illinois president requested some candy for an annual Christmas dinner.
“I said, ‘We can make them orange and blue for you.’ So we did that, and they loved it so much, that’s what started the multi-color special order,” Vrinios said, referring to an option where Vriner’s customers could pick colors and flavors.
“Of course, the orange and blue tastes like victory, right?” said Dan Church.
Vrinios told the Venue CU owners to get ready, because making the candy canes would be a “bit physical.”
The entire process of making a batch of around 125 takes about an hour and a half, including 40 minutes of cooking time and 45 to pull and form the candy into canes.
The process of creating the candy canes, as well as the story behind them, will be captured by Chicago’s ABC 7 News to be aired as part of a Christmas special on Nov. 22, Dan Church said.
