More than two dozen people gathered along Elkhorn Avenue for a uniquely Estes Park experience: a film premiere staged not in a theater, but outside one of downtown’s most beloved storefronts.
At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, “Map Wrapped – Journey to The Taffy Shop” flickered to life on a large TV screen inside The Taffy Shop, drawing a crowd of locals and visitors eager to watch through the window a whimsical, six-and-a-half-minute short that ends, fittingly, at the candy shop itself.
The film is a playful, dreamlike road trip across the United States—full of twists, turns, and visual surprises—before arriving in Estes Park, where the story lands at its sugary destination.
After the screening, shop owner Mark Igel hosted a casual on-site interview with filmmaker and director Joe Cramer, giving the audience a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process as guests snacked on butter popcorn flavored taffy, blending cinema and confection in a way that felt distinctly local.
Igel, a movie buff who had owned the Reel Mountain Theater in Estes several years ago, set the stage for the Main Street premier with a prop of two brass stanchions linked by a red velvet rope near the door to The Taffy Shop.
Cramer, a 2023 graduate of Estes Park High School who works seasonally at Ride-A Kart, another Estes Park institution that dates to 1956, studied film, video, and photographic arts at Front Range Community College.
Cramer laced the film with local Easter Eggs – deliberate hidden references, inside jokes, and concealed messages which Igel helped to identify in the post-screening debrief. Locals will recognize numerous shoot locations, backdrops, and catch the connections.
One scene features a couple headed to Estes Park in a camper. The man in the scene is Gary Coleman, a second-generation owner of Ride-A-Kart, now owned and operated by Coleman’s daughter, Kelly, and her husband, Andrew Kessler.
A setting steeped in tradition
The choice of venue was more than a novelty—it was a nod to the enduring legacy of the 91-year-old candy shop located at 121 W. Elkhorn Ave.
Founded in 1935 by Lowell Slack, the shop has become a cornerstone of downtown Estes Park, known for its hand-pulled salt water taffy and its commitment to tradition. For 79 years, the Slack family operated the business, passing down a closely guarded recipe that has remained unchanged for nearly nine decades.
In 2014, Lavona Slack retired and entrusted the shop—and its famed recipe—to the Igel family, who have continued to make taffy using the same methods that have defined the business for generations. Today, visitors can still watch taffy being pulled and wrapped on the shop’s vintage 1947 Model K “Kiss” wrapping machine, one of its most recognizable features.
That continuity has helped make The Taffy Shop more than just a place to buy candy. For many families, a trip to The Taffy Shop is a pilgrimage passed down through generations—grandparents introducing grandchildren to the same flavors they first tasted decades ago.
National recognition, hometown heart
In June 2024, that legacy earned national attention when USA Today readers named The Taffy Shop the best candy store in the country.
Yet despite the accolade, the shop remains a modest, white-fronted storefront with a nostalgic charm. Its restored 1960 electric sign still lights up Estes Park’s main drag each night, a glowing reminder of its long-standing place in the community.
Thursday night’s premiere on the eve of the vernal equinox reflected that spirit—simple, welcoming, a bit quirky, rooted in place, and deeply connected to a community.