Candy crush: Long Grove chocolate shop doubles as museum to iconic bridge’s mishaps

Long Grove is well known, notorious even, for the frequency at which the town’s iconic covered bridge has been hit by vehicles too big to pass through.

Now local store Broken Bridge Treats is paying tribute to that history with a minimuseum documenting the dozens of mishaps. The store sells chocolate and other treats while showcasing the bridge's many run-ins with buses, moving vans and other oversized vehicles.

Karen Klancnik, the store's general manager, stresses that they don’t mean to mock.

“We want the people to be more aware,” she said. “There are signs everywhere that say no trucks. If you think you can't make it, don't go through.”

The bridge on Robert Parker Coffin Road has been hit 76 times since August 2020, after it was restored and reinforced with steel after sustaining heavy damage when struck by a box truck in 2018.

The shop at 220 Robert Parker Coffin Road displays framed photos of many of the crashes, creating what some call a “wall of shame.” It sparks conversation and attracts visitors.

The gallery features U-Haul trucks stuck under the bridge, tow trucks trying to pull them out, and frustrated drivers waiting for help. One photo shows a bus headed to a nearby golf course. Passengers got out with their beers and walked the rest of the way.

Inside the store, a looping video plays with “Bad Day” by Daniel Powter as the soundtrack. Bridge-themed T-shirts are sold for $20 each.

But the store offers more than just bridge stories. It features high-end chocolates, mostly from Morkes Chocolates in Palatine, along with popcorn, homemade fudge, truffles, chocolate-covered strawberries, taffy apples, cider doughnuts and brown bag pies.

Broken Bridge Treats is part of a group of Long Grove businesses owned by Klancnik’s brother, Michael Okun. He also owns The Chatterbox and Joanie's Pizzeria. His wife, Arlene, runs the Sock Monkey Museum, Sock Monkey Snack Company and Covered Bridge Creamery.

Okun and his partners, Gerald Forsythe, Marsha Forsythe and Melissa Bernadette, began acquiring properties in Long Grove about 10 years ago. Their goal is to revive a downtown that thrived before the Great Recession. His partners also own Broken Earth winery.

Broken Bridge Treats originally went under the name Morkes Chocolates.

“And then the bridge got hit so many times, we finally said, ‘You know what? Let’s just call it Broken Bridge Treats,’” he said.

Okun has a personal interest in the town — he grew up riding his bike to downtown Long Grove when he visited his grandfather in the Country Club Estates neighborhood.

Room remains on the walls for more photographs. Okun said a photo from the latest mishap is already at the framer.

“The last hit was probably the worst one I have ever seen, because he was really stuck in there,” he said, adding that a tow truck had trouble extracting the vehicle.

Okun said the shop's running count only includes confirmed stuck vehicles, not scrapes and scratches.

“We don't count if somebody grazes it and makes it through,” he said. “We're really counting when they're stuck and they got to get towed out.”