Mariamena Morisa's family started selling candy leis in Anchorage in 2001. Since then a competitive candy lei cottage industry has sprung up, with customers all over the state.
Sisters Evangeline and Maria Morisa run Morisa’s Candy Leis of Alaska in Anchorage. At her high school graduation, her mom walked in carrying leis made out of saran wrap and ribbon with candy inside. Other parents asked if she would sell them.
Morisa said they make 75 leis for each high school in corresponding colors. Prices vary depending on the length of the lei and the type of candy inside. Their most popular leis cost $20 and are made of small candies, like Hershey Kisses and Jolly Ranchers, wrapped in two colors of cellophane. Sanwari Finn bought a blue and gold candy lei from the Morisas for her son, who graduates from Bartlett High School this year. “I’m getting them for my son,” she said. “He’s going to graduate on Monday from Bartlett.”“They’re pretty. They’re beautiful,” she said. “I’m not too much into candy, but my son is.”That’s where Brittany Hoskins sells her leis, too. A few years ago, she started selling balloons filled with toys, money and confetti as graduation and birthday gifts.
Here in Anchorage, they’ve also been spotted somewhere else: Walmart. They’re $4.48 each and have candy wrapped in mesh netting instead of cellophane. Hoskins sells her candy leis for $15 each. “People were going across the street and asking owners of those houses if they could rent their driveway,” she said. “That kind of hurt a little bit because we’ve done it the right way. They’re getting the customers outside before we get them inside, and that felt like they were stepping on us.”
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