One of the most ubiquitous sights of the holiday season is the candy cane.

Be it the traditional red and white striped peppermint cane, or a more exotic flavor like egg nog or sugar plum, the candy cane is a classic that never goes out of style.

At Haven’s Candies this weekend, children of all ages got a first-hand look at what it takes to create these holiday treats. On Friday and Saturday, Haven’s sponsored it’s annual “Make Your Own Candy Cane” day, featuring a demonstration by candy maker Larry LaChance and the chance for everyone to get their hands sticky and make their own creations.

LaChance said he and his crew make all of Haven’s candy canes by hand, selling about 20,000 each season. During his career, LaChance estimates he’s made about 500,000 canes. He said he especially enjoys demonstrating the art of candy cane making to the kids. “It’s our interaction with the kids, and we get to show them the art form of making candy canes,” he said.

Friday afternoon, LaChance was showing a group of parents and children exactly how he makes candy canes. First, a mixture of sugar, cream of tartar and water is poured into a kettle, heating the mixture to about 320 degrees. Then LaChance and his two assistants pour the raw candy onto a table that is cooled with water and knead the mixture.

It’s at that time the colorful stripes are added. The candy is split into three sections with one being colored red, and the other green. The largest batch is left white. While it may appear that the stripes are what give the candy cane its flavor, they are actually created with a special dye that has no taste.

“We don’t flavor the stripes,” LaChance said. “There’s just so little of each stripe in each batch it wouldn’t add or subtract flavor.”

The flavor is added when the mixture is moved to the puller, a device that stretches and pulls the raw candy, adding air and turning it white.

While peppermint is by far the most popular flavor, LaChance gave his young spectators the chance to choose what flavor candy canes they would make. One young girl in the front row chose the distinctly untraditional watermelon. After laughing at the choice of flavor, LaChance pulled out a jar of flavoring and applied the liquid to the raw candy as it was stretched on the puller.

Alex Leighton of Portland, who was there with his mother Emily Leighton, said watching the candy being pulled was his favorite part. His mother agreed. “It didn’t seem like he had that much candy, but it kept stretching and stretching,” she said.

After the candy comes off the puller, LaChance and his assistants rolled the candy into a long snake and trimmed pieces off with scissors for the kids to make their own canes.

While some kids took their time and made traditional cane shapes, others just had fun with it. Sporting matching reindeer antlers, 5-year-old twins Kanase Matsuzaki and Minami Matsuzaki, who came from Tokyo to visit their aunt in Buxton, made three candy canes in the shape of the letters that spell “Joy” to help decorate their aunt’s house for the holidays.

Alex Leighton also was into making letters, making himself one in the shape of an “A” for Alex.

Brothers Tristan Flaherty, 5, and Calvin Flaherty, 3, weren’t into letters. The two South Portland boys spent their time having fun twisting their candy into shapes, being more concerned with how the candy would taste rather than shaping it.

While most of the kids were happily expressing how much fun they were having making candy, two-year-old Ashlyn Busque of Westbrook, was too shy to talk. But it was evident watching her munch away on the candy cane she just helped make that she was having a great time.

That’s what it’s all about, LaChance said. Even after making almost a half-million candy canes, he still likes to watch the kids have fun coming up with a new twist on the holiday classic. “I love it,” he said.

Havens 1 Candy maker Larry LaChance demonstrates the art of candy cane making at Haven’s Candies on Friday.havens 2 Once the candy mixture is heated to 320 degrees, it is poured onto a special table to cool.Havens 4 Candy maker Larry LaChance gets ready to work with a batch of raw candy that will eventually be turned into candy canes.Havens 4 While the mixture cools, La Chance works with the candy to get it ready to be stretched and colored.Five-and-a-half year old twins Kanase Matsuzaki (right) and Minami Matsuzaki (left) from Tokyo work on their candy canes at Haven’s Friday. The girls were in Maine to visit family in Buxton.Havens 6 Calvin Flaherty, 3, (left) and his brother Tristan Flaherty, 5, (right) of South Portland enjoy their candy canes at Haven’s on Friday.HAvens 7 While two-year-old Ashlyn Busque was too shy to talk Friday, it’s evident from the way she’s holding onto her candy cane that she was having a good time.

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