CORTLAND - A chance visit to a candlemaker several years ago led to the creation of a local business, and now it's sending its candles from Cortland to Hollywood.
Owners of a small, locally owned candle business now in its sixth year said they have worked hard to create high-quality scented candles. Their product caught the attention of a few members of the Hollywood community.
Becki Olejnik, along with her husband, Anatole, and her parents, Jeanne and Rich Conti, own Sydney Candle Co., which operates out of a small warehouse on Main Street in Cortland.
''It was an email,'' said Becki Olejnik, the mother of three and native of Liberty. ''I pulled up my email and there was an email asking for promotional materials for the Golden Globes celebrity gift bags.''
Rita Branch of Secret Room Events, who will be putting on a Golden Globe lounge during the event's rehearsals Friday, said they place no more than 20 items in each gift bag per year.
''We try to always have a candle company because the celebrities love candles, so we look for different candles for each event,'' Branch said. ''And hers smell really good. She has smells from chardonnay to bordeaux ... she has many many great smells.''
Being selected to have an item placed in the gift bags at this weekend's event was an honor to Olejnik and the company.
''It's an honor that they chose us. I'm very happy to promote that they are in there,'' she said. ''It puts us on a different level to be worthy enough to be in the gift bags.''
Wanting to make their contribution to the bags special and unique, the company decided to follow a wine theme by using a sashay bag containing one of their wine-scented candles and a lighter.
Olejnik said they donated 50 of these items for the gift bags, and added several more for the press and other companies involved.
''We are putting her candles in the presenters and nominee gift baskets as well as putting some out in the lounge,'' Branch said.
According to Branch, each gift bag contains items that range from an all-inclusive vacation to jewelry to candles.
''With the amount of candle companies out there, how in the world would someone out there have heard about us in Cortland?'' Olejnik said.
Branch said due to this year's addition of a baby lounge to their Golden Globe lounge, they had sought a candle that was natural and burned without smoke, which led them to check out Sydney Candle Co.'s all soy wax candles.
Now, the company of nine people will have the chance to spread their name and their scents across the country.
''To be known and know people like the candles, that's the most important thing to me,'' Olejnik said. She added that while being a part of this event is exciting, it's her customers and quality of her product that is most important to the owners.
The idea to make candles began several years ago, when Olejnik was visiting her sister and the two made a trip to a candlemaker.
They considered selling candles at craft shows, and a short time later her father suggested they see what it would cost to make their own candles. The idea behind Sydney Candle Co. was born.
''We started in a crockpot,'' Olejnik said. ''We started in the basement of my home, and we were in the house a good couple of years.''
The company then began to market themselves, landing a deal with the popular Pennsylvania destination, Kraynak's.
Now available in 17 states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Michigan, Sydney Candle Co. continues to spread its name.
''We are growing and are always searching for quality establishments looking to promote us,'' Olejnik said. ''We consider ourselves very blessed.''
