The nostalgic smell of classic bubble gum greeted us as we approached the contest. My five year old son was vibrating with excitement. He had taught himself to blow bubbles just for this event. For three weeks he practiced every night and now could blow bubbles on demand. I was nervous. Would stage fright take over and leave him disappointed? He could be really shy sometimes and often hides behind me when strangers talk to him.
The crowd was good size and there were more reporters than I had expected. My husband started giving me tips on how to elbow the pros aside for a good shot and my son was dragging me to the registration table, frantic that he might miss his big chance. Guess he’s not going to be shy today. I put my husband in charge of signing him up and took a few photos.
Capturing a bubble on camera was hard. There is a split second of huge billowy success, then it’s gone.
iPods for the winners and the grand prize was a massive quantity of gum and being immortalized in a Bazooka Joe comic.
All the contestants got a t-shirt and an eye patch (like Bazooka Joe’s in the comic) to wear while competing. The eye patch is just for looks and does nothing to protect you from bubble explosions, but it does make you look serious about gum. Each contestant has a warm up to get their two pieces of Bazooka gum to the perfect texture, then one minute to blow their best bubble. The biggest bubble blown and measured is the one that counts.
My son put on the smallest shirt they had, applied his eye patch and did his best. Two inches!
He didn’t win the contest, but that hardly mattered. His pockets full of extra gum and wearing his t-shirt and patch, my son felt that the day couldn’t have gone better. He can’t wait until next year to do it again. I really hope they have another one, because we had lots of fun.
Victoria (Candy Critic Corespondent)
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