Fisher Foods Fall Festival Ad – October 26, 1955

Fisher Foods must have been feeling a little squirrelly when it came time to come up with a theme for its annual Fall Festival promotional ad. Various cute, bushy-tailed nut gatherers romp all over this full-page ad which ran in the Lorain Journal back on October 26, 1955.

It was only a few days away from Halloween, so there are a few sale items related to the holiday, including Fisher's Special Halloween Cake (59 cents), Candy Bars For Tricks or Treats (a box of 24 for 89 cents), Candy Corn or Halloween Mix (29 cents) and Apples for Halloween Treats.

It's funny thinking how we used to get the odd apple while trick-or-treating. I remember one year, a little old lady on Skyline Drive in the next block gave us apples. Nevertheless, Mom used to just have us discard them out of concern that someone might have stuck a pin in it or something. 

There are a few interesting items on the flyer. Donald Duck left his webbed foot print on the ad, with his namesake Orange Juice (2 46-oz. cans for 63 cents) and Donald Duck Grapefruit (4 1-lb. cans for 55 cents) as two of the offerings.

(By the way, my blog has received a lot of hits from people seeking information about the discontinuation of the irascible waterfowl's orange juice. Same with Quisp cereal.)

Anyway, the ad also includes some Aunt Jane products. Aunt Jane was one of the house brands (similar to A&P's Ann Page) carried by Fisher Foods. 

There's also a listing for Cheezee American Cheese Food (a "loaf" for 66 cents). When I tried to research it, Google's AI Overview blew a gasket, giving me a several incorrect assumptions, including informing me that "Cheezee" is a misspelling of "Cheez Whiz." Harrumph. 

So whatever happened to Fisher Foods? 

According to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, it was acquired by a group of local grocery executives that included Carl and John Fazio. Thus a name change occurred in 1967 (below).

Detail from May 31, 1967 ad