Every brisk Halloween night, somewhere around four-hundred children’s eyes light up as they each receive an entire bag’s worth of candy from the Candyman.

Mr. Claude Williams, a resident of Halle Plantation, is known throughout the neighborhood and local schools of Collierville and Germantown for giving away bags full of candy to trick-or-treating children every Halloween.

“This is our twenty-fourth year of doing it here, and I bring home samples from my office in Collierville,” said Mr. Williams, “The kids loved it so we just kept getting bigger and bigger every year.”

Mr. Williams started working in the candy industry in 1968 as a stock boy at a Dixie Mart. After returning from the army, he was able to get a truck where he sold candy to Mom and Pop Stores. He drove that truck around the neighborhoods, and gave away candy, and soon was titled “the Candyman.” When he sold that business, he opened his current company, Claude’s Candy Brokerage, where he now represents factories and importers around the world.

He sets all the candy out on a table in their driveway and as kids come, he greets them with a big smile and gives each child one of each type of candy.

A few items from the assortment of goodies include Bit-O-Honey, Giant Smarties, Mint Patties, Mega Lollies, Sweet Tarts, and foot-long gum sticks.

He lives with his wife, Mrs. Chris Williams, in their home in Halle Plantation.

“He’s in his element every year, like a kid at Christmas,” said Mrs. Williams. “Of course, now we do it for our daughters and grandkids too.”

Mrs. Jennifer Winstead is the librarian at the St. George’s Germantown campus and daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Williams. She can remember when she was a little girl and when her father began this tradition.

“Everybody wanted to come and trick-or-treat at the Candyman’s house so it was always a lot of fun,” said Mrs. Winstead.

She now helps host a Halloween party at her parents’ house every year and always greets St. George’s students and parents at the door. She and her family also invite children and their parents to come into the house to enjoy hot drinks and food before venturing out into the cold night again.

“I think people just look forward to it every year and it’s always a fun day,” said Mrs. Winstead.

Mrs. Winstead’s daughter, Kate Winstead, a fourth grader at the St. George’s Germantown campus and Mr. Williams’s granddaughter, was dressed as Hermione from the Harry Potter series. Growing up around this tradition, she has grown accustomed to the culture around her grandfather’s tradition and eating all the candy.

“I don’t have a favorite candy, they’re all so good,” said Kate Winstead. “But, if I had to choose, it would be Smarties.”

In years past, Mr. Williams had offered an item in the St. George’s Annual Auction where the winning bid would allow for a student and three friends a guided tour of his candy company.

“They would come to our office and they would get a bag and samples of our candy,” said Mr. Williams. “We would then take them out to lunch.”

Now their driveway fills with children of all ages, even teenagers, all eager to take home the many sweet treats the Candyman gives out.

“Every kid knows about him and we have people who are not even from this neighborhood come and trick-or-treat here,” said a teacher from Bailey station who was out with her child.

Even in the record low temperatures of this past Halloween, Mr. Williams withstood the cold to see the children and their parents had a happy, sugar-filled Halloween night.

“The kids seem to have a good time,” said Mr. Williams, “and so I enjoy doing it.”