Free Samples and 5-Cent Thrills
Like homing pigeons, my brother Johnny and I always headed straight to the Pure Food Building as soon as we hopped off the streetcars at the bustling Canadian National Exhibition grounds.
I was 11; he was younger. It was usually Children’s Day, and it was the 1950s — the Ex represented everything exotic, exciting and free to us.
Our plan was simple: find every free sample and gobble up every item offered.
We never went hungry. We lined up for free samples of Lancia and Primo spaghetti in small paper cups — our first taste of Italian food. We marvelled at samples of Gouda cheese, having thought all cheese was called Velveeta. Toronto was still in the culinary Dark Ages.
We waited in front of the Heinz 57 booth for five samples — everything from relish to soup. At the end, a bonus awaited us: a Heinz green pickle pin. I still have mine.
We never missed the free Pepsi and Honey Dew drinks, topped off with a stop at Margaret’s Donuts. I also loved the Peak Freans booth selling Playbox biscuits frosted with action figures.
Johnny always spent five nickels on a Neilson’s bag with five big chocolate bars and a paper crown. My forage list always included the Robertson’s Marmalade booth, where they gave away pins and fans adorned with their logo — an adorable “golliwog” in a little red jacket, long since deemed racist but considered charming then.
We both loved the marshmallows rolled in toasted coconut. Some years we splurged on a box to take home to our mother.
A few years later, Johnny was replaced by my girlfriend Doreen — and later by a boyfriend — and I had much more money to spend thanks to a summer job. Near the grandstand, at the Conklin Booth, I always bought a waffle sandwich, which included warm waffles encasing a square of white ice cream. Doreen always said those sandwiches “felt seven inches high in my mouth.”
But what I loved most were Tiny Tom Donuts — a dozen mini confections dropped into sizzling oil right before your eyes, served piping hot in a white paper bag. All for 15 cents.