The Candy Maker of Leavenworth

Dan Barry: LEAVENWORTH, Wash.

A candy maker and wizard of specialty foods — your mustards and fudges, your relishes and preserves — began another early day at his store, a local institution called The Alps. His name is Archie Marlin, and at 73, he is no less an institution.

On this dark March morning the electricity was out again; maybe a fallen tree or some heavy snow had damaged the power line running along the Wenatchee River, just behind his gingerbread house of a shop. So Mr. Marlin got four propane lanterns glowing, left two in the downstairs office and went upstairs to call the utility.

Soon came the nose sting of smoke. Mr. Marlin hustled back downstairs and grabbed a fire extinguisher, but ashen billows stopped him short. Something exploded and then something else, as if to shout and repeat the warning to get out fast.