At our October 15, 2026 gathering, Alyssa Sarnosky, Community and Employee Engagement Specialist and Company Historian at Crayola, took us through the company’s "colorful" history. Crayola grew out of an 1885 pigment and chemical business run by Edwin Binney and his cousin C. Harold Smith. It moved to Easton for the Bushkill Creek water power and the nearby slate belt. Binney’s wife Alice, a teacher, named it in 1903 from the French “craie” (chalk) and “oleaginous” (oily). Alyssa covered the 64-count box with the built-in sharpener in 1958, Hallmark’s purchase in 1984, and the 1996 Easton attraction that is now the Crayola Experience. She also talked about the solar farm that provides the energy that produces about a third of the 3 billion crayons made each year, and the Easton plant that sends no waste to landfill. She added that Silly Putty, paints, and clays are made in Bethlehem! Crayola makes 13 million crayons a day, holds 302 patents, and has about 1,200 emplo
yees who give about 15,000 volunteer hours a year.
Crayola is also a generous community partner through Crayola grants: Applications are open until December 31 for $500 to $10,000, focused on youth arts and education, and all funding stays in the Lehigh Valley.