PHOTO PROVIDED The crew at Purity Candy finishes hard candy curls — a 115-year-old version of ribbon candy — in this photo from the company’s social media.

Although Purity Candy has changed hands a few times in its 117 years, the past is always a sweet piece of the present.

Purity Candy is a manufacturing and retail business created by Ford G. Birchard in 1907.

“Ford was a candy maker in Williamsport in the late 1800s and decided to strike out on his own,” said current owner John Burfeindt Jr. “After going to a bunch of places — down south and then Eagles Mere — he found a place in Lewisburg in 1907.”

Burfeindt’s family bought the company nearly 35 years ago. John has been the head candy maker for 32 of those years and bought the company with his wife about three years ago.

“My parents bought this store when I was a senior in high school,” Burfeindt said. “When they bought it they had zero experience in candy. My mother had a small shop selling fabrics and clothes on Long Island, but that was about the extent of it.”

Within the first four years, the Burfeindts began growing the business out of its flagship store on Market Street, in Lewisburg, and realized they needed a larger manufacturing spot. They built the factory in Allenwood and put a store in front of it. Today, both locations still exist.

Since 1907, regardless of who owned the company, Purity Candy has been a family business.

“Although it’s not our family that owned it for 117 years, when I started working here I started with Arlene Zeiber,” Burfeindt said.

Arlene and her Husband George “Buck” Zeiber met at Purity Candy when they were teenagers and ended up buying the business. “When they sold it, Arlene kept working there,” Burfeindt said.

“Usually you start as an apprentice doing a little more each day,” Burfeindt said. “Arlene and Buck pushed me here and pushed me there … they let me learn from my mistakes and Arlene ended up working at Purity for 75 years.”

Arlene and Buck Zeiber worked with the original owner’s son and the original owner would come in and help out, drawing a clear family connection that spans over a century.

“Those candy making methods passed through generations like Arlene and Buck and then onto us,” Burfeindt said. “It seemed like there was always this connection to the past as if that’s exactly how Pap (Birchard) would do it or his son Roy.”

Today, both locations consist of 25 employees. Many family members and legacy employees still work crucial or seasonal roles in the business.

“My mother still works here doing orders,” Burfeindt said. “My sister is the general manager of the company and the manager of the retail store in Lewisburg. My wife, who works another job, helps me with the books and other things. My nieces and nephews come in and help on Saturday’s. My son was just in from Vermont helping.”

Just like his parents and the owners before him, Burfeindt is surrounded by help from family, especially during the holidays.

“I used to come home and help around this time too,” he said. “Everyone likes the holidays. It’s hectic, but it’s a fun time of year here.”

The head candymaker said among all of its various products, the chocolate covered pretzels, caramels, and peanut butter smoothies are the most popular.

“If you come to the store in Allenwood, you can see all of it being made through the observation window into the manufacturing spot,” he said. “These are products that are handmade by people who live around your town and you can come and watch it being made. It’s a unique experience and the people of Lewisburg have known this for a long time.”