It’s the end for Cherry Blossom chocolate, which marked the history of Sherbrooke

Cherry Blossom chocolates will soon disappear from shelves. A Hershey company customer service representative confirmed to - that the product will cease to be produced shortly and sold until inventories last. Remember that the little dessert was produced for nearly 30 years in Sherbrooke.

The factory had established its head office in Sherbrooke after the closure of its Montreal offices.

It’s part of our local history, because Lowney came here in 1959 and produced chocolate here until 1989.underlines the director of the Sherbrooke History Museum, David Lacoste.

At the time, the Lowney company from Sherbrooke was behind more than a hundred candies and chocolates, including some well-known products like Caravan, Oh Henry!, Glosette and of course Cherry Blossom.

It was a well-functioning factory, with about 1,000 employees in the 1960s.specifies David Lacoste.

What we will mainly remember from the Lowney factory in Sherbrooke is that we did not only produce heavy metals or textiles in Sherbrooke. We had other companies, including this company, important for Sherbrooke.

Guylaine Guay remembers this time well. L’Estrienne worked at the factory for around fifteen years, notably in the production of Cherry Blossoms.

It was a bit hard because our hands hurt. They were cardboard boxes, and we had to move quite quickly to supply the machines. We got used to it!, she says.

We had a lot of fun there. We were all the same age. I was 16 years old.

Moving Operations to Ontario

At the time, the plant was located on the city limits, near where Highway 410 now runs.

After prosperous years, approximately 475 employees then lost their jobs or were offered to work in Ontario in 1989, when the plant closed and operations moved.

It hurt people. The administration decided to show Ontario the new place, where people could go to work if they wanted. But they had to move. They organized buses and they took people there, but most of the people were disappointed that Lowney here, a nice factory like that, well equipped, [ferme]. There it was old machineryremembers Réjean Genesse, who worked at the Sherbrooke factory until it closed.

Today, it is the Hershey company that is behind the candy.

There was a generation that lived only to serve Cherry Blossom, so to speak. And then afterwards, it was quietly lost and unfortunately, today is the end.

It was part of my time!adds Réjean Genesse.

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