© 2024
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

At Polar factory in Worcester, seltzer remains a family concern

Earlier this fall, I found myself taking a road trip to a Cape Cod wedding. Having driven by Worcester a few times over the years, I thought it would make a good excuse to investigate one of my passions: seltzer. So I set up a visit to the Polar factory.

If you’ve ever been a tourist in Atlanta (home to the Coca-Cola factory) or the Bay Area (where Jelly Belly jelly beans are made), you might be picturing my visit to Polar. But it wasn’t exactly the same setup: no gift shop, no catwalk for tourists beyond the reach of the assembly line. Instead, Polar executive vice president Christopher Crowley took me on a tour of a round-the-clock factory that has been in his family for 140 years.

A lifelong resident of the Capital Region, Ian joined WAMC in late 2008 and became news director in 2013. He began working on Morning Edition and has produced The Capitol Connection, Congressional Corner, and several other WAMC programs. Ian can also be heard as the host of the WAMC News Podcast and on The Roundtable and various newscasts. Ian holds a BA in English and journalism and an MA in English, both from the University at Albany, where he has taught journalism since 2013.
Related Content
  • Seltzer sales have jumped 42 percent in the past five years. The bubbly water has inspired everything from tasting flights at restaurants to "LaCroix Boi," one rapper's parody ode to the drink.
  • Independent producer Joe Richman and All Things Considered begin a weekly series on jobs that are slowly disappearing. Today we meet Walter Backerman, one of the last seltzer delivery men who still make the rounds to New York City residents. Backerman's father was a seltzer man. So was his grandfather. And when he shows up at the doors of his customer's homes, to many, he represents a connection to a time gone by.