{"product_id":"vintage-1980s-bikes-candy-fund-raiser-patch-beich-bloomington-illinois","title":"Vintage 1980s Bike's Candy Fund Raiser Patch 🍫 Paul F. Beich Bloomington Illinois Embroidered Name Patch","description":"\u003ch2\u003eBike's? 🍫 The Candy Company's Patch, Not the Bike Shop's\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3\" x 1 3\/4\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Blcenyb2uOU\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eA red patch with \"Bike's\" in big white script looks for all the world like it came off a bike-shop mechanic's shirt. It's sweeter than that. Look at the tiny ® stitched right after the word: nobody registers a trademark for the corner bike shop. \"Bike's\" is a candy brand, and if you ever sold candy bars for your school, your church or your Scout troop, there's a good chance you've seen this script before.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🍫 Bike's Is How You Say Beich\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe name belongs to the Paul F. Beich Company of Bloomington, Illinois, and \"Bike\" is simply how the family name was said. Paul Frank Beich was born in Wehlau, East Prussia, on May 22, 1864, came to Bloomington to visit an aunt, and stayed. His candy business there runs straight back to Milton Hershey: the Bloomington caramel plant was first known as the Lancaster Caramel Company, owned by Hershey out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and in 1899 Beich and his partner Oscar Buffe bought it. By 1908 the Beich factory stood just west of Bloomington's Union Station with more than 200 people at work, and the company would eventually turn out \"no less than 700 separate and distinct varieties of confectionary,\" the Whiz bar, Milkette bars, Illini bars and Bike bars among them. Paul Beich died in 1937, and his family kept the factory running until 1984.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎒 The Fund-Raiser a Lot of Us Remember\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1953 the company started its Kathryn Beich line, and it changed how a lot of American kids spent their autumns. Schools, churches and clubs ordered the candy, sold it door to door, and paid for it afterward out of what they took in. The star of the line was Katydids, the chocolate-covered caramel and pecan clusters in the collectible tin. In 1980 and 1981 Kathryn Beich Candies of Bloomington was running ads inside the front cover of Scouting magazine, pitching its \"Bike\" candies to troops looking to raise money. Nestlé bought the company in 1984, sold the fund-raising business in 2002, and the Bloomington factory went to Ferrero in 2018. Katydids are still sold as a fund-raiser today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏅 Where the Patch Comes In\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSelling candy was a contest, and the best sellers got rewarded. The same \"Bike's\" script turns up in the middle of a \"Top Dollar \/ Fund Raiser\" patch, and there are round \"Sales Leader\" patches with it too. One collector who sold the candy as a kid remembers patches like these as the prizes from a Pennsylvania school's Bike's candy drive. This red name patch belongs to that family: the candy company's own name, done up in the style of a work-shirt name tag.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📅 How Old It Is\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1980s.\u003c\/strong\u003e This exact \"Bike's\" script was registered as a trademark by the Paul F. Beich Company for candy. It was filed June 10, 1983, registered January 8, 1985, claimed a first use of June 6, 1983, and was cancelled in 1991. An earlier Bike's mark, with the name inside a circle beside a woman's profile, goes back to 1977, and the plain word BIKE was first used on Beich candy in 1921. The lettering on this patch matches the 1983 registration drawing stroke for stroke, right down to the looped B and the tail off the s. It came in a single find of unused patches, all new old stock, none ever sewn.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e✂️ How It Is Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFull-coverage embroidery.\u003c\/strong\u003e The red is not fabric — it is thread. The entire field is stitched, with no ground cloth showing anywhere, which is far more thread and far more machine time than embroidering a design onto a colored blank. You can see the fill direction catching the light across the red.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA merrowed border.\u003c\/strong\u003e A continuous rolled overlock edge in darker red, worked cleanly round all four rounded corners. It's the finish that keeps an edge from fraying through years on a jacket or a backpack.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e✅ Condition\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNew old stock.\u003c\/strong\u003e Unused and never sewn to anything, with little to no wear. Patches like this were made to go straight onto a jacket, a sash or a backpack, so most survivors are attached, faded or cut off something.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🖼️ What People Do With These\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eSewn on a jacket, a backpack or a denim vest for a little school-days nostalgia\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eFramed with other fund-raiser, Scout and school patches\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eGiven to anybody who ever sold Katydids door to door, or to somebody actually called Bike\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eAdded to a candy-advertising or Bloomington, Illinois collection\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e❓ Questions People Ask\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIs it a bike-shop or motorcycle patch?\u003c\/strong\u003e No. \"Bike's\" is the Beich candy company's trademark, Bike being how Beich is said, and the ® after the word is the giveaway.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHow old is it?\u003c\/strong\u003e 1980s, from the years the Bike's script trademark was in use; its first use was June 1983.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHow big is it?\u003c\/strong\u003e About 3\" x 1 3\/4\". The quarter in the photograph is there so you can judge it for yourself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat is the border?\u003c\/strong\u003e Merrowed — a rolled overlock stitch worked round the edge rather than a separate binding. It is why the edge cannot fray.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIs it a reproduction?\u003c\/strong\u003e No. Unused original stock.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-mid-century-embroidered-tiger-patch-nos-amazing-animal-memorabilia\"\u003eVintage Mid Century 1960s Embroidered Tiger Patch 🐯 – NOS 1¼\" Stylized Face Design (Yellow Black)\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/4-8-12-vintage-gumby-pokey-figurines-1970s-1980s-both-colors-highly\"\u003eVintage Gumby \u0026amp; Pokey Bendable Figures 🟢 Set of 5 or 4, 1970s-1980s Teal \u0026amp; Orange Plastic Toys, CHINA Mark Figurine\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990s-cherry-coke-bottle-cap-coca-cola-chesterman-company-sioux-city-la\"\u003eVintage Cherry Coke Bottle Cap 🥤 Chesterman Company Sioux City Iowa Coca-Cola Crown\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47623525040360,"sku":"VAG-9205558706408","price":6.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.7183588723_quip.jpg?v=1785443843","url":"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1980s-bikes-candy-fund-raiser-patch-beich-bloomington-illinois","provider":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","version":"1.0","type":"link"}