

Burnaby History Tour: The Five Cent Chocolate War

Puzzle Cache



World War II was over. But as the country reverted to a peacetime economy the price freeze set during the war was lifted and the public was subject to a phenomenon they hadn't witnessed since the Roaring Twenties -- high inflation. In the spring of 1947 the price of a chocolate bar was raised from five to a whopping eight cents. During a time when a child's allowance rarely exceeded fifteen cents the price hike was considered an outrage. This would mean that a week of chores would be taken up by the price of two measly chocolate bars. And that was only if they could scrounge up the extra penny! A few children in a Vancouver Island town decided to protest outside their local candy store. News of the "chocolate strike" quickly spread and within a week the protests stretched across the Province. Burnaby School Children held up traffic on Kingsway for two hours with a bicycle Parade. On April 30th, 1947 two-hundred screaming children closed down British Columbia's government when they stormed the Victoria Legislature demanding the return of the five cent chocolate bar.

It took no time at all for the protests to reach the other side of the country. School children from three high schools in Toronto held a major protest. In Fredricton, children combined their sugar rations to make large masses of homemade fudge. The protests got larger as youth organizations, spurred by the David and Goliath spirit of the children, joined in. It seemed that the 8 cent chocolate bar would soon to be history. After all, the youth of Canada appeared more than willing to starve themselves of their favourite confection until the chocolate bar moguls heeded. Everybody was on their side. The battle symbolized the nation's frustration with rising post war prices.

As chocolate bar sales dropped 80% overnight, a cross country protest was set for May 3rd. But it was instantly quelled when an anonymous person leaked a story to the Toronto Telegram. One of the supporters of the boycott was the National Federation of Labour Youth -- a group known to be sympathetic with communist causes. At the zenith of its popularity, the inspiring movement fell victim to the times. In a widely circulated attack, the Toronto Telegram blasted the youthful dissidents as stooges of Moscow. The paper labelled candy strikers "another instrument in the Communist grand strategy of the creation of chaos," and charged that "Communist youth organizers have been instructed to use every possible means of developing and encouraging the chocolate bar agitation." Such cold war paranoia defused public support for the children. Cowed by allegations of communist involvement, grown-ups worked to short-circuit the drive for the nickel bar. In Vancouver, the 2,500 member Sat-Teen Club caved in to pressure from priests, parents, teachers and city officials to terminate the group's involvement with the candy boycott, glumly declaring that "mob demonstrations and strikes are not consistent with the ideals of the club." As similar scenes were replayed across the land, the demoralized movement melted away like so much chocolate in the summer sun. Bedtime had come early for the nickel bar war. Canadian children, idealistic and innocent in pursuit of a just cause, had been undone by powers beyond their understanding or control. Today, the average candy bar costs more than a dollar.

In order to find the cache you will have to closely examine the cross sections of these chocolate bars. Match the bars to their corresponding numbers and you will find the waypoint for the cache. You just may have to visit your corner grocery store and bite into the tasty treats to solve this puzzle. A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

1 --- Almond Joy

2 --- Snickers

3 --- Areo Mint

4 --- Kit Kat

5 --- Butterfinger < I

J

6 --- Coffee Crisp

7 --- Mounds

8 --- Smarties

9 --- Oh Henry!

0 --- Milky Way The cache is located at: N 49 EB.HHJ W122 IB.JGA More Caches Home The Big Blast Crabtown Cache Ghosts of Barnet Secrets Submersed Steam Heat Gilley's Gully The Yankees are Coming! Other Caches Bubblin' Crude II Tickets Please II The Five Cent War

