The Great Clark's Tiny Treat Caper

Let me just say it:  I hate Clark’s Tiny Treats!

It was 1982.  I was a Senior in high school in the little farming community of Mobeetie, Texas.…New Mobeetie, that is. (There is an old Mobeetie, but that’s another story). In our huge class of 12 students, we were on a mad dash to raise as much money as we could for our Senior trip.

We decided that we were going to raise the most money in school history, and we weren’t going to some lame place like Six Flags; we were going on a cruise! (The “Love Boat” was trending).

You have to understand, we had been raising money since 8th grade. My family was not wealthy, but my mom swears she paid for the trip with her famous Butter Pecan homemade ice cream..she made it for every concession stand we had.

The class needed more cash.  We had squeezed the lifeblood out of every pocket in three counties. Then (angels singing) we had an amazing opportunity from Clark candy bars: an individual selling the most Clark’s Tiny Treats would win a dirt bike. So we voted, invested funds, purchased cases of the treats, and–yes we “won” the bike. Then we raffled the bike (despite the.."is it gambling?" drama) and made quite a bit of money.

And now why I hate Clark’s Tiny Treats: We each had to sell several cases. Sounds easy, right? Nope. There were only 500 people in our town. We became desperate. Mobeetie developed  a collective repulsion to chocolate and crispy peanut butter. Our relatives hid from us. We traveled to Wheeler, Briscoe, Allison and even Pampa to sell our goods, all the while people “snickered” behind our backs. A few ladies in our town had mercy and made several recipes with Clark candy in them….there’s nothing like going to a church potluck and almost all the desserts had the stuff! And of course, we ate it. Lots of it. No more cool treats bought at the store: you want something sweet? “Get a Clark’s out of the pantry”! No more fresh cookies out of the oven after school, unless they had…you guessed it!

Did we finally get our cruise? Yes–to the Bahamas. Did we make the most money in history of any Seniors at Mobeetie High School? Yes!  We had enough to fly all students and sponsors to Miami, Fl and embark on "le Dolphin" with Paquet Cruise line. Each student received $114 cash for spending money.

A few years later, Mobeetie ISD would consolidate with Briscoe and Allison to become Fort Elliot ISD. And one day, helping my parents move, guess what I found in the freezer?  You guessed it!...A case of Clark’s Tiny Treats–definitely not Butter Pecan Ice Cream! And to add insult to the injury? I am now allergic to pecans. I lay the blame completely onto Clark’s!

By: Wenona Andress