A year ago, we told you about a real-life Willy Wonka scheme. David “Candyman” Klein hid golden tickets in each state for a treasure hunt that would lead up to awarding someone with a candy factory. That someone is Andrew Maas, who followed clues for a year and ultimately found the last golden ticket at a park in Kokomo, Indiana.
Maas registered his find on the treasure hunt website. Twenty minutes later, Klein called him while he was still in Highland Park and told him he had won. He had just won the candy factory.
Maas was floored. He now owned the plant, which makes an edible sand-art treat called Sandy Candy, along with other sweet concoctions. But he knew he couldn’t pick up his wife and two kids and move them to Florida to run the business.
Instead, the two are now working on an agreement in which Klein gives him the factory and then buys it back from him. Maas said he’s fine with whatever the agreement turns out to be.
Maas said the excitement and adventure of the treasure hunt was the real draw, but he's glad to have the money. Read how Kokomo was chosen for the final destination, and how Maas solved the clues to find it at the Kokomo Tribune. -via Fark