The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that Eastern Ontario town Smith Falls, which was once known as the province's chocolate capital, is preparing for the sweet return of Hershey's. A Canadian Press dispatch to The Globe reports that Smiths Falls Mayor Shawn Pankow says, "It's like an old friend coming home after being gone for 15 years." That return is the latest in a slew of changes around a facility that has been essential to the town's identity and economic prosperity. In 2007 Hershey's outsourced the jobs at the facility to Mexico and closed shop. The legalization of recreational cannabis in 2018 brought on a brief economic high after Canopy Growth moved into 1 Hershey Dr. Canopy is best known for its Tweed brand. Its opening initially brought tourist business to the town. In February, Canopy laid off 800 employees and announced it would sell the factory. Tweed will still employ just over 175 people in Smiths Falls at another facility. It announced last month that it would sell the 700,000-square-foot facility back to its original owner for around $53-million. Though details about Hershey's reopening plans are scarce at the moment, optimism for the town's future has never been higher.