MEDINA, Ohio — Candy creator by day. Amateur astronomer by night.
Medina businessman Larry Johns loves to satisfy a sweet tooth for customers, and he also has a big appetite to learn about our galaxy.
Johns owns McJak Candy, which makes about one million lollipops a day and 3,000 cups of cotton candy daily. The company, which has 40 employees, also makes fudge and is getting back into the popcorn business.
"It's always fun to be in a candy factory. People call me the Willy Wonka of Medina," Johns said.
While candy-making is his profession, Johns is equally excited to talk about his hobby— outer space— and the upcoming total eclipse.
"In the last few years, I've gotten very interested in space. I've got two telescopes actually," he said.
With Medina being in the path of totality, Johns is going galactic to share the experience and his unique collectibles with the community and the visitors expected to converge on the city.
"Part of what fascinates me is it's so rare, like I've never seen this in my lifetime," he said.
Johns created the Helios Project, a self-guided interactive solar system display on Champion Creek Trial.
"All the planets, if you walk from here [the start of display], they are the right distances and scaled sizes, according to this 55-inch sun," Johns explained while pointing to a silver model of the sun.
Johns will show off his cool "Exploration of Space Exhibit" at the Medina Recreation Center on April 6, 7 and 8 from noon to 5 p.m.
One of his most treasured items is a 281-year-old original space atlas written in Latin. He bought it at an auction for $10,000.
"This just shows all the planets that people knew about in 1742," he said.
He will display a 1969 press kit from the Apollo 11 mission to the moon and part of a meteorite that landed in South America. Some of the minerals in it are older than the Earth itself.
"If people come to see it, this would be the oldest thing they will have ever personally seen first-hand, probably about 6-billion-years old."
For added fun, Johns will bring some pop culture items, including a spaceship prop used in the movie Independence Day.
While holding it up, he said, "This was a city destroyer spaceship. This was used in the actual film when they filmed the top-view shots of the spacecraft," Johns said.
Johns is fired up for eclipse day and happy to do his part to make the experience more memorable.
"It's going to be great viewing all over Medina, so looking forward to it," Johns said.
