The end of an era

For as long as I can remember, Crystal Creamery has been a Sacramento staple. I'm not that old, but my family has been in Sacramento practically forever. Crystal was founded here in 1901 and has been owned and operated by the Hansen family since 1921. That's a long, long time for a family business to resist being snatched up- 86 years to be exact. Crystal has been sold to HP Hood LLC.

We'll be sad to see Crystal go. The status of the 500 employees is still unknown. The impact of the sale will be felt for a while in town, in ways many may not know. Many local stores opened or stayed open through low-interest loans from Crystal and other incentives to carry Crystal products. Many local dairies sell their milk directly to Crystal, reducing transportation, shipping and processing costs. On lighter notes, Crystal stood up for Sacramento when those horrid Lakers made "cow town" comments by creating yourcowtown.com and going along with the joke.

HP Hood has many of the same principles, including rBST hormone free milk and longstanding history in their community. But their community is New England, a far cry from Sacramento. In addition, Hood has made a name for themselves by purchasing franchising rights to major brand names like LACTAID, Stoneyfield Farms and Coffee-Mate. Not exactly a home-grown, local dairy.

Thanks Hansen family for your longstanding contributions to the community. We can only hope that Hood will be as good to Sacramento as Crystal.