This 35-year candy maker family in Linwood is a favorite at St. Patrick’s Day and Easter, reports Rosemary Connors for nbcphiladelphia.com.

Oh Ryan’s Irish Potatoes come in original and covered in dark chocolate.

 “This year was a little bit rougher,” says owner Dave Lamparelli. “We did get hit with a COVID scare and we ended up shutting down, literally, for two weeks.”

They expect to run 50,000 pounds lighter this year because of it. Last year, the family produced 97,000 pounds of Irish Potatoes.

Even so, Christmas candy sales at their Newtown Square store, Christopher’s Chocolates, were up this year because of the focus on buying from local, smaller businesses.

  So where did  the name for their Irish Potatoes come from?

“Ryan is my 32-year-old son,so we came up with Oh Ryan’s Irish Potatoes because I gotta tell you, nobody’s gonna buy Oh Dave’s Irish Potatoes and our last name is Lamparelli and Oh Lamparelli does not work.”

The family is gearing up for Easter, with its popular chocolate raspberry cream eggs, or the peanut butter egg with a fudge center, described by Lamparelli as “extremely deadly.”

Find out more at nbcphiladelphia.com about Oh Ryan’s Irish Potatoes.