Candy Land coming to life on Lombard
By: Kamala Kelkar
Examiner Staff Writer
August 16, 2009
 |
| Sweet tooth: This iconic stretch of Lombard Street will host a life-sized game of Candy Land on Wednesday, complete with appearances by Princess Lolly and King Kandy. (AP) |
While a game of Chutes and Ladders might look more appropriate, about 25 kids will play a larger-than-life version of the Candy Land board game this week when it romps on the windiest stretch of Lombard Street for its birthday bash.
The event is for the 60th anniversary of the color-coated counting game and will be celebrated on the famous quarter-mile stretch of Lombard Street between Leavenworth and Hyde streets on Wednesday.
Sixty years ago, Eleanor Abbott of San Diego designed the game while she was recovering from polio to entertain children also recuperating from the disease. Milton Bradley Company then bought the game — which exercises adding and subtracting skills — that is now produced by Hasbro, which also owns Monopoly, My Little Pony and Nerf.
To honor Abbott’s inspiration, event organizers arranged for children age 6 to 10 from UC San Francisco Children’s Hospital and the nonprofit Friends of the Children to compete in four teams of six down the windy slope.
About 20 event organizers will start sugarcoating Lombard Street around 4 a.m., setting up purple, yellow, blue, orange, green and red blocks along the 575-foot-long path. Each block will be about 14 feet long and 12 feet wide, matching the same color sequence as the usual game, according to event organizers.
Lombard Street residents are not involved, but did approve a permit for the festivities and some of the neighborhood children were invited to join, according to organizers.
The first board games were sold for $1 and its advertisements for 30 years promised “the sweet tooth yearning of the younger set without the tummy ache aftereffects,” according to the game’s Web site.
Now the standard board game — which has changed its graphics about every decade — is about $8.99 and deluxe editions can run up to about $24.99.
Princess Lolly, Princess Frostline and King Kandy will also be there in the flesh, celebrating their 60th birthdays. Kids will draw from a deck of color-coated cards as big as six square feet while eco-friendly confetti and balloons drape the background.
The event starts at 10 a.m. and will be topped with a cake shaped like King Kandy’s castle at the finish.
kkelkar@sfexaminer.com
