The marker is so fresh off the line it's unusable at first it takes an hour for the pen to wick - for the ink to soak to the tip.
One of the nicest touches is that kids can push a button at the end of the assembly line to get a free mini-box of crayons and a marker. Behind user-unfriendly Plexiglas partitions (that are due to partly come down), Binney workers demonstrate in one corner how hot wax becomes crayons and, in another, how markers are made. Since Binney no longer escorts people through its factory, it brought part of the factory to the people, re-creating two small sections of assembly line. Our total wait turned out to be less than two hours, and visiting the superstore made the wait seem shorter.Īfter passing under a suspended, enclosed footbridge, we were inside the factory - actually Two Rivers Landing, the name of the brick-and-glass complex that includes the Crayola attraction, a regional information center and the National Canal Museum. There are Crayola sweaters and neckties, computer accessories and, yes, even crayons - crayons that smell, crayons with glitter, crayons that glow in the dark. Harold Smith could see what their company (founded in 1885 to sell industrial pigments) had wrought in these aisles, they would be astounded. During my hour or so there, two cashier lines were always at least four or five customers deep. The shop is raking in triple its projections. But that hasn't stopped products from moving off the shelves. If you think you'll find bargains here, with the factory just up the road, think again. My dad graciously agreed to wait in line for the tickets, while the rest of our party walked over to the adjoining Crayola superstore. (Tip: Groups of 10 or more can make advance reservations, at a discount.) It did not turn out as ugly as it sounded, but visitors should arrive before noon or they might not get in. On the August day I visited with my family, we were greeted by one of those dreaded three-hour waits - one hour to secure a timed ticket, two more hours to get in. This winter may provide a breather to make adjustments.Ĭombine parts of the Maryland Science Center and urban children's museums, mix in some of the candy factory tour at Hershey, Pa., and you'll get a sense of the Crayola Factory. The Crayola people admit that they have bugs to work out. That created misery, with waits as long as three hours to get into the attraction and with day-trippers being turned away at noon because timed tickets for the entire day had already been allocated. It averaged 1,600 and topped 2,300 one day. Binney anticipated drawing 700 people a day this summer. An effusive segment on CNN when the place opened didn't hurt, either. The big, apricot-and-duck-green box with the trademark squiggle is a powerful childhood symbol for many adults.Ĭrayola's new tourism center was overwhelmed by visitors in its inaugural summer. American folk artist Grant Wood, best known for his couple with the pitchfork in "American Gothic," credited his childhood award in a Crayola drawing contest with encouraging him to pursue a painting career, or so the story goes. Society may wag a finger at kids staying glued to the tube, but President Clinton won't be proposing a C-chip to cut down the estimated 28 minutes a day the average child spends coloring.īinney estimates that a typical youngster wears down 730 crayons by his 10th birthday. You also won't find a more politically correct product than this hunk of colored paraffin wax (although, amazingly, there is still a color called "Indian red"). Even in an Internet age, no other tool coaxes creativity from kids so early as the crayon. Protesters picketed Binney headquarters a few years ago when the company decided to discontinue eight fuddy-duddy colors such as raw umber and maize for hipper shades such as fuchsia and teal. In a Yale University study, adults ranked crayons among the 20 most recognizable scents, below only a few olfactory turn-ons such as coffee and peanut butter.