Candytopia pop-up brings ‘decadently delicious sugary spectacle’ to midtown

After launching in Santa Monica, Candytopia opens in New York City, bringing its sculptures, art and marshmallow swimming pool with it. Photo Credit: CBS All Access

Indulge your sweet tooth — and your Instagram followers — at the city’s latest food museum.

After debuting this spring in Santa Monica, California, the pop-up Candytopia is now at Penn Plaza, 145 W. 32nd St., for a limited engagement starting Wednesday.

Jackie Sorkin, a “celebrity candy stylist,” is behind Candytopia, which wrapped up its four-month West Coast run last month before making its way east.

“New York is a worldwide stage and what better location to showcase our decadently delicious sugary spectacle,” Sorkin, CEO of the dessert company Hollywood Candy Girls, said in a statement provided to amNewYork. “Candytopia is a complete experiential adventure. From the moment you step foot inside, you’ll be transported from the busy streets of the city into a confectionary dreamworld.”

The interactive exhibit, which has drawn the likes of Drew Barrymore, Gwyneth Paltrow, James Corden and Wiz Khalifa, has nearly a dozen rooms at the NYC edition.

The huge exhibit welcomes visitors in through Wonka-esque gates, through a tiny “Harry Potter”-like village and whisks you into a dreamy, ’grammable heaven, where everything is made out of candy and made for selfies.

Elements of the Santa Monica pop-up that have made their way to New York include a swimming pool (of course), this one filled with about half a million giant marshmallows; unicorn-pig hybrids that fart confetti; a candy-covered Sphinx sculpture; and candy recreations of such artworks as the “Mona Lisa,” Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” and Rodin’s “The Thinker.”

New York-inspired features also include candy sculptures of the Statue of Liberty, composed of jelly beans and gummies, and a yellow cab made out of banana candies and licorice.

As far as eating candy goes, guests will be able to sample a variety of sweets, including Tootsie Roll Pops, Trolli gummy worms and Lindt chocolates. Tickets are $34 for adults, and $26 for children ages 4 to 12 and are available at candytopia.com.

Candytopia is just the latest Instagram-engineered food experience to pop up in New York City in the wake of the Museum of Ice Cream in 2016. New additions to the genre include Jacques Torres’ ongoing chocolate museum; The Egg House, a spring pop-up on the Lower East Side; and the Museum of Pizza, coming this fall. The Museum of Ice Cream also retunred to NYC with The Pint Shop, an “interactive grocery experience,” running through Aug. 18 in Chelsea.

A second candy museum, orginally slated to open in NYC this summer, looks to be headed our way in early 2019, per Forbes. That one, the Museum of Candy, is from Sugar Factory.

With Shaye Weaver