Earlier today, the Main Street Confectionery reopened following a multi-month renovation. The candy shop on Main Street USA received a new layout and backstory that created a store that is not only more spacious but more inclusive as well! The backstory of the new Main Street Confectionery includes a competition among home bakers called the Sweetest Spoon Showcase.
While photos of the bakers are available outside of the store, the entrance column has more backstory on each character competing in the Sweetest Spoon Showcase. Here’s a rundown of each character.
Saul Fitz
A town tailor of great renown, Saul Fitz fashions impeccably fitted suits and trousers by day, and finds relief from his exacting work by night, baking and noshing on chocolate rugelach. In sweetness, there is calm.
In speaking with managers at the Main Street Confectionery, they confirmed that the quote is from Saul Fitz’s partner, Gary Henderson, which makes Saul the first openly LGBTQ Disney Parks original character. Managers said that this is part of the Inclusion Key that was officially added to the “Four Keys” training program that all Disney Cast Members go through. As you’ll see below, the rest of the Sweetest Spoon Showcase participants are also quite diverse – an intentional move by Imagineering to expand inclusion in the Disney theme parks.
Willie Anderson
Hobbies are Willie Anderson’s hobby. Lucky for him, his parents’ bookstore contains all he needs to know about potential pastimes. Treating taste buds to the tastiest pound cake in town is his latest obsession.
Dr. Alsoomse Tabor
Dr. Tabor’s digs are fruitful introductions to indigenous cuisine. Graduate students join the esteemed professor’s paleontology trips to learn from the best, and taste her famous fruit leather – the ideal food for fieldwork.
Toshi Hayakawa
Toshi Hayakawa doesn’t just bake: he puts out flames. As a Main Street Firefighter, he turns up the heat on his greatest passion in the firehouse kitchen, perfecting his family’s 300-year-old rice cake recipe.
Sonia Sanchez
Sonia’s kitchen provides her Puerto Rican neighborhood sweet tastes of the Caribbean. Crowds line up into the streets to purchase quesitos sprinkled with “La Senora’s” signature cinnamon sugar.
Agata Kaminski
Few things fill this free-spirited music teacher with greater joy than sharing Polish jelly donuts with her students, who nominated her to the Sweetest Spoon Showcase.
As part of Disney’s initiative to be more inclusive in their theme parks, they also updated the Jungle Cruise attraction with a set of new, diverse characters.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!