Idaho Candy Co., for a century the maker of the Idaho Spud, is holding a contest to find another iconic Idaho image - not to replace the humble marshmallow-based spud, but to join it on the production line.

The guidelines are simple. The candy bar has to be edible - though if the Idaho Spud is any measure, it doesn't have to be conventionally delicious to sell at a rate of 3 million a year. It must fit on drugstore shelves. Would-be creators can submit a dream, a drawing, an idea or an entire recipe.

Dave Wagers, the president of Idaho Candy, can make a candy bar into practically any shape.

"A marshmallow-coconut base would be the easiest thing, but we have access to peanuts and almonds and chocolate and caramel," he said. "We do a lot of different kinds of candy."

A CHANGE OF DIRECTION

Idaho Candy Co. has occupied the same corner in Boise's Linen District since 1909 - eight years after the Idaho Spud bar is thought to have started production. Wagers' family bought the company 23 years ago.

By 1918, Idaho Candy was making more than 50 different kinds of candy bars for the regional market. Since those early years, it also has acted as a wholesaler, shipping cigarettes, tobacco and mass-market candy bars.

This spring, Idaho Candy gave up on the wholesaling business, leasing out its 30,000-square-foot warehouse in Southeast Boise and returning its focus to making candy. The company still produces more than 40 kinds of candy. Its best-sellers are the Idaho Spud, Cherry Cocktail, Old Faithful and Owyhee Butter Toffee. Now, Wagers also is contracting with other companies for special orders. Idaho Candy recently made 700,000 marshmallow Easter eggs for a company in Chicago.

And now that he doesn't have to worry about the wholesaling business anymore, Wagers is looking for another candy bar that pays tribute to what makes Idaho special.

"This is the fun part," Wagers said. "I get to go back to inventing instead of worrying about how many Snickers bars go out the door at .02 cents profit each.

"Actually, I wish it was that much," he added. "It was less of a margin than that."

WOULD-BE INVENTORS, SEND IN YOUR IDEAS

Wagers has teamed up with the Idaho Statesman to tap into the public's love of Idaho and candy. Send in or drop off your written ideas describing a candy that best celebrates Idaho - its natural features, its fruits and berries, or anything else you can think of.

Wagers is a Boise native who attended Cole Elementary School, Fairmont Junior High, and Capital High School. He loves the outdoors, and when he thought about coming up with a new tribute to Idaho, he considered a huckleberry chocolate or gem-shaped hard candies. Wagers sees a future where a new bar, like the Idaho Spud, flies off the shelves in airport gift shops or sails halfway around the world in a soldier's care package, carrying a hint of Idaho near and far.

You could decide what that bar will be.

Anne Wallace Allen: 377-6433