Jelly Belly, which is headquartered in Fairfield and one of that city’s largest employers, announced the bittersweet sale to Chicago-based Ferrara Candy Company Wednesday.

In a bittersweet twist, one of Fairfield’s biggest hometown companies, Jelly Belly, has been acquired by the Chicago-based Ferrara Candy Company, which owns several candy brands such as Nerds, Laffy Taffy, SweeTarts, and Trolli gummies.

Jelly Belly, which is headquartered in Fairfield and one of the city’s largest employers, announced the sale in a press release Wednesday, according to the Bay Area News Group.

It's a pivotal moment in the history of the company, which was founded in Illinois in 1896. Jelly Belly has been owned by the same family for six generations and expanded its reach to California and even Thailand, according to SFGATE. Founder Gustav Goelitz reportedly first opened the company’s original candy shop in Belleville, Illinois, after which his son Herman moved the company to Oakland, and was somewhat surprisingly endorsed by California celebrity and politician Ronald Reagan in the 1960s. He apparently replaced his smoking habit with jelly beans, and particularly loved the licorice flavor (controversial). In 1985, the company reportedly moved its headquarters to Fairfield.

As the release reads, “Once the acquisition closes, nearly 800 global Jelly Belly employees and its facilities in California, Illinois, and Thailand will join the Ferrara organization.”

While the financial details of this deal are yet to be disclosed, the acquisition is projected to conclude by the end of the year, pending standard closing conditions, according to the Mercury News. And Jeff Brown, the current Executive Vice President of Global Operations and Distribution for Jelly Belly, is reportedly set to become the CEO upon finalization of the deal.

The vibrant and quirky Jelly Belly factory has been an emblem of Fairfield, alongside landmarks like Travis Air Force Base and the Budweiser plant. The mayor acknowledged to the Mercury News that the company represents a significant part of Fairfield's identity and charm, and that while she was nervous to see one of the city’s most famous companies acquired, she was relieved by reassurances that employees' jobs will remain secure.

Image via Fickr/Ken Lund under Creative Commons.

Nearly five months after the news broke that embattled San Francisco cab company Yellow Cab was for sale, they've found a buyer: Competitor CityWide Taxi, which got the bankrupt business for a relative song.

As reported last November the nearly 40-year-old Yellow Cab Cooperative had stopped paying its members in 2015, after being financially crippled by "millions of dollars in lawsuits stemming from accidents, with one settlement reaching as high as $8 million," the Ex wrote at the time.

Fast forward to March of this year, and the business, which at 500 vehicles is SF's largest cab company, had only one suitor: Citywide Taxi, the Ex reported. As Yellow Cab is now deep in bankruptcy proceedings, the sale had to be approved by United States Bankruptcy Court, Yellow Cab trustee Sam "Well, that's a bad sign" Singer said.

And approve the court did just this past Friday, after an eleventh-hour bidding war with Minneapolis taxi operator Cabtopia, the Ex reports, an operation so obscure the most I could find on it was this photo on Yelp.

But in the end CityWide was the victor, snapping up Yellow for $810,000. “This was a good sale price for the company,” Singer said, and maybe it was for what remains of Yellow — the deal was perhaps less glowing for CityWide, which will get only some of Yellow's $8 million in assets but will assume its $26 million in liabilities.

According to the Ex, CityWide, which says on their website they're the fourth-largest taxi company in SF, will only get "Yellow Cab’s color scheme, its locally famous (415) 333-3333 phone number, 160 of its cabs and the sublease to Yellow Cab’s property."

123 of Yellow's cabs are owned by Ford which will take them back and sell them, Singer told the Ex. 158 other Yellow vehicles will be sold by the company at a later date.

It's assumed that as opposed to rebranding Yellow as CityWide, the reverse might occur. "The famous yellow scheme will continue to traverse San Francisco streets,” Singer told the Ex last month. “The cabs will continue to operate as Yellow cabs...Citywide’s management should at this time be familiarizing itself with Yellow operations in the coming weeks in order to have a smooth transition.”

Luxor Cab Company owner John Lazar weighed in on the sale last month, saying “I think [the buyer] wants to keep the color...He wants people still calling ‘Yellow,’ still to get a ‘Yellow Cab,’ he’d be stupid not to. That phone number is everything.”

The sale is expected to close by April 29.

Previously: Bankrupt Yellow Cab Is Now For Sale

SFist already mentioned the sure-to-be-popular All You Can Dance For $5 event happening at LINES Dance Center tomorrow. Here are five more of our top weekend picks, along with a lovely gallery.

White Elephant Preview Sale: Oakland Museum's huge annual White Elephant Sale is coming up on March 3rd and 4th, but this Sunday from 10 to 4 p.m., you have the chance to get first dibs on some fabulous items, including several vintage silk wedding gowns, gallery quality prints, musical instruments, books, sports memorabilia, and anything else you can imagine. Check out their gallery of stuff that will be on sale tomorrow.

From A to Zin: For those who might not have been able to afford the Zinfandel Festival's other more high-brow events that were happening this week, perhaps this fun afternoon tasting event on Saturday is more your speed ($49-60). Touted as "the world’s largest single varietal tasting," you'll get to sample from hundreds of barrel samples, new releases and premier Zinfandels, as well as rub shoulders with winemakers from each of the Zinfandel growing regions.

San Francisco Civic Symphony: Have a seat in the lovely Empire Ballroom at Sir Francis Drake Hotel on Sunday afternoon, while enjoying a free concert by the oldest community orchestra on the West Coast, which consists of musicians of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels. Sunday's show will feature selections by Mozart Strauss, and Beethoven.

'Acknowledged' Photography Exhibit: Photographer Joe Ramos will share 55 portraits out of the 1,000-plus he's taken so far as a volunteer portrait photographer for Project Homeless Connect, giving "a personal face to homelessness and a voice to the people depicted in the photographs." The exhibit opens on Saturday morning at the main library and runs through March 24th.

Surfrider Clean Up: Help clean up Baker Beach on Saturday morning with the folks at Surfrider. House of Bagels will be donating some bagels and cream cheese to fuel your efforts. Participants are encouraged to bring their own gloves, grabbers, or buckets.

Looking to score a bunch of awesome kids' books, older-edition cookbooks, self-help guides, parenting manuals, or art books? Got a hankering for laser discs or '80s one-hit wonders and musical soundtracks on vinyl? Then get your tote bags ready and carpool to Fort Mason with a friend (learn from SFist's mistakes, lugging piles of books on Muni is never fun) -- the Friends of the Public Library's 47th Annual Big Book Sale starts Wednesday!

In celebration of the Friends' 50th Anniversary this year, they've lowered the prices across the board. Everything is $4 or less Wednesday through Saturday, and, of course, on Sunday, everything's marked down to a mere $1. The sale will feature 500,000 books, DVDs, CDs, books on tape, vinyl and other forms of media, 10,000 boxes of materials, 50+ categories and over 400 volunteers with the stock being replenished daily.

If you're looking to get first dibs, sign up to be a volunteer, or become a Friends' member, which will get you tickets to the special member preview tomorrow night.

All proceeds will benefit the San Francisco Public Library’s literacy programs for children, teens and adults.

47th Annual Big Book Sale
Fort Mason Center’s Festival Pavilion
Marina and Buchanan
Wednesday-Saturday (9/21-24): 10 a.m. -8 p.m.
Sunday, 9/25: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. (All materials $1 or less)

Bring Your Own Queer (BYOQ): Local performers and icons will be shaking things up today at the annual Bring Your Own Queer music, arts and performance festival, including Juanita Moore, The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Honey Soundsystem, Chica Boom, Titland, and more. The festival benefits Lyric.

Rock Make Street Festival: The Bay Bridged, Tartfui, Cookie & the Dude bring us this fourth annual music and art festival today, which includes two stages featuring all local and kids’ rock bands, along with over 100 arts and crafts vendors and food and beverages from local vendors.

Cardboard Tube Fighting League: "Cardboard-tube wielding ninjas" will take over Hayes Valley Farm on Saturday, participating in "a tourney the likes of which have nay been seen by farmer and god alike." Take part in the battle, enter the costume contest, tour the farm, and win cardboard artifacts.

14th Annual Duboce Park Tag Sale: Head to the quaint Duboce Park today for their annual sale, which benefits the park, featuring bargains on books, videos, clothes, furniture, kitchen items, sporting goods, toys, collectibles, and more. As far as SFist is concerned, Duboce is the best park in town.

Chinatown/North Beach Sunday Streets: Grant Avenue through Chinatown and North Beach will play host to the neighborhoods' first Sunday Streets this weekend. The event includes a commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of Ping Pong Diplomacy with the first citywide Ping Pong Tournament in Chinatown's Portsmouth Square, along with “A Fair to Remember,” an art and music festival taking place in North Beach's Kerouac Alley.

The Mission Creek Music & Arts Festival/Capsule Design Festival: Two great festivals take over Hayes Valley Park on Sunday. The Capsule Design Festival features 130 independent men's, women's, and kids clothing and accessories designers, paper makers, glass designers, and other "assorted fantasmigorica," and the ongoing Mission Creek Music & Arts Festival presents a stellar live music showcase all day long.

Clear your schedule later this week so you can get first dibs at Chronicle Books' Summer Warehouse Sale, which runs this Thursday through Saturday. Hundreds of sweet titles by the beloved SF-based publisher will be 65% off, and you'll get a free gift with purchase.

The sale will feature a huge selection of genres, including cookbooks, children's books, lifestyle and home, crafts, art and design, photography, travel, pop culture, music, journals and stationary, and more.

Additionally, be sure to keep your receipt if you feel a hankering for lunch at Ironside or The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen because you'll get 10% off food and beverages.

Chronicle Books Summer Warehouse Sale
680 Second Street (Between Brannan and Townsend)
This location only
Thursday 8/4 9 a.m.-7 p.m.
Friday 8/5 9 a.m.-7 p.m.
Saturday 8/6 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Shotwell, a super fine clothing store at 320 Grant, was a beacon of hope in Union Square. A clothing store that felt comfortable, affordable, and, dare we say it, literally hip. SFist gave them a glowing review/interview back in 2009. So, stylish readers, it is with a heavy heart we must tell you that they will soon close shop...and move to The Mission. (Ugh.)

That said, Shotwell will have a massive moving sale starting today. You can get some choice shoes, clothing and accessories (AK Vintage, Dolce Vita, Fremont, J Brand, In God We Trust, Nous Savons, and much more ) for up to 80% off. Quite a bargain, folks.

Learn more at Shotwell's Facebook page.

Oakland Museum White Elephant Sale: The much anticipated annual weekend-long rummage extravaganza in Oakland is finally here. Get you and your tote bags over there first thing tomorrow, as it gets picked over quickly. Or, if you like the bargains, go on Sunday afternoon. According to the sale's Facebook page, they just received some cool last-minute donations, including Olympic souvenirs from Russia, Spain, Alaska etc. and a baseball signed by the A's of the early 80's "when Billy Martin managed the team and Rickey stole the bases!" Check the plethora of gear here.

How-to Homestead: Have you seen how awesome the new Harvey Milk Rec Arts Center is? You should go check it out on Saturday afternoon while taking part in some mending, a potluck, a film screening, and some boot-scootin' boogie with The Stairwell Sisters.

Found Footage Festival: This fabulous touring celebration of the soon-to-be-obsolete VHS format is back in town at the Red Vic all weekend. SFist went to the festival back in 2008 and got to see Jack Rebney, the infamous and lovable Winnebago Man. The fifth edition of the fest boasts its "most densely-packed lineup of videos to date, complete with bad celebrity career moves, drunk guys mooning Hare Krishnas, and, at long last...cats riding motorcycles."

Michael Showalter at JCCSF: The nerd brain behind television’s Michael & Michael Have Issues and The State, the films Wet Hot American Summer and The Baxter, and the comedy trio Stella, celebrates his new book Mr. Funny Pants at the Jewish Community Center on Sunday evening.

Snuggie Crawl: Snuggies and bar crawls, they're here to stay. Don that backwards polyester bathrobe and head over to McTeague's on Saturday -- we hear the Marina folks are calling Polk Street the new Mission, for what it's worth.

SFMOMA Artist Gallery's epic, four-and-a-half day-long 17th Annual Artists Warehouse Sale starts tonight with a special preview reception, for those wanting a leg up. You'll also have a chance to beat the weekend crowd tomorrow and Friday afternoon/evening.

Prices range from $50 to $5,000, and the sale benefits local artists and SFMOMA’s exhibitions and programs. Be sure to scope out the goods in the Sale's Facebook Gallery.

Each day of the sale has fun themes: Tomorrow night is Date Night, Friday night is Maker themed, Saturday will have live music and carnival games, along with a Paul Madonna book signing, and Sunday is Family Day.

Public transit might be your best bet over the weekend. Parking near Fort Mason is no joke!

17th Annual Artists Warehouse Sale
Wednesday, May 5 through Sunday, May 9
SFMOMA Artists Gallery
Bldg. A, Fort Mason Center

At these prices, Dave Eggers should be institutionalized and brutalized Frances Farmer-style. See, the McSweeney's Store is having a crazy fucking sale. Seriously. For the next three days everything, everything on their store site will cost $15, $10, $5 or $1.

What does this unprecedented sale include? Works by Art Spiegelman, Nick Hornby, Marcel Dzama, Michael Chabon, Nerd Bird, Giant Squid, La Brea Tar Pits, and everything else in the store. Everything very-necessary, poignant, and richly textured must go! Check them out.

Sale ends this Thursday.

"If you want to sell your car, call Jeff," said a sign tacked to a Russian Hill phone pole this weekend. There's a phone number attached, but here's what's weird: a little Googling reveals a rogue's gallery attached to that number. According to one page, it's transitional housing on 9th Street. According to another, it's a publisher on Clement. And Google's cache reveals a slew of Craigslist postings for psychics from Albany, Flagstaff, and Anchorage.

Which is a shame, because aside from the sketchy phone number, this offer seemed so reputable.