The Enduring Allure of the Ice Cream Truck
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Courtesy of Jim Malin Malin, owner of Jim's Ice Cream Truck in Stratford, Connecticut, likes that his job allows him to be his own boss and make people happy, no matter their age. "It's funny because the older crowd, I can guess which ice creams they're going to get,” he says. “The young kids, you know, they want all these crazy ice creams. Whereas the older people like a Creamsicle, that's one of their favorites, for the ones who are like 70 or 80. And the ones in their 50s, they get toasted almond. I can just guess what they'll get by their age."
The Enduring Allure of the Ice Cream Truck
Amid coronavirus isolation a roving van of frozen treats brings smiles to all ages
A crowd forms in front of the Peaches and Ice Cream truck, pre-pandemic. Courtesy of Bill Pietsch Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Since has been keeping people isolated and working at home lately, he's been making door-to-door deliveries for those who crave human interactions as much as the sweet treats. Bill Pietsch enjoys a Bomb Pop popsicle. Courtesy of Bill Pietsch "We're all stuck at home, right?” he says. “And I'd show up, and you'd see the smiles of a lifetime. The kids are responding well. And then when the kids are smiling, mom and dad are smiling. And they're taking pictures and stuff like that. And they're leaving me artwork: ‘Thank you, Mr. Pietsch.’ Drawing a picture of an ice cream cone, or a truck, you know what I mean? That meant the world." Across the country, other ice cream truck drivers are sharing similar experiences. And so are their customers, young and old.The nostalgic feeling of it
Courtesy of Jasmine Johnson In Blaine, Washington, ice cream truck driver Jasmine Johnson started running her Sugar Shack Ice Cream business 16 years ago because, after a move, her daughter wanted to go back to their old town simply because it had an ice cream truck. "And I thought, ‘Why didn't I grow up with this?’ I wanted kids to have this memory,” Johnson says. She bought an ice cream truck on eBay and hasn't looked back. "The other day, this older man, maybe in his late 70s, came out and told me that he drove an ice cream truck on the East Coast to put himself through college,” she says. “And he just couldn't believe that there are still ice cream trucks around. He wanted to buy a treat because of just the nostalgic feeling of it."Chasing the blues away
There's definitely something to looking to our past to find happiness, says David Berry, the Toronto author of On Nostalgia, a new book that explores the pull of the past. "During the course of my research, I found that nostalgia — one of its main purposes is essentially to make us feel better,” Berry says. “And in particular, to make us feel better not just when we're feeling bad but when we're feeling maybe a bit lost about who we are." In the case of finding peace in the ding of ice cream bells in the middle of a pandemic, Berry says maybe we're just longing for a time when we didn't have so many worries. Flowers & Gifts 25% off sitewide and 30% off select items See more Flowers & Gifts offers > They converted a milk delivery truck into The Ice Cream Truck 1961, one of two trucks they operate. Tonte spends her days working at a bank and her free time selling frozen treats. She likes interactions with ice cream lovers so much she considers it a hobby. "It's actually my brother's business,” Tonte says. “When he was a little boy, we lived in town, and the ice cream truck would come around, and he'd always go running for it. So, it was one of his childhood dreams." The one thing ice cream truck driver Jim Malin remembers about the ice cream trucks of his youth is that his parents would never let him buy any. Today, he has as much ice cream as he'd ever want.Courtesy of Jim Malin Malin, owner of Jim's Ice Cream Truck in Stratford, Connecticut, likes that his job allows him to be his own boss and make people happy, no matter their age. "It's funny because the older crowd, I can guess which ice creams they're going to get,” he says. “The young kids, you know, they want all these crazy ice creams. Whereas the older people like a Creamsicle, that's one of their favorites, for the ones who are like 70 or 80. And the ones in their 50s, they get toasted almond. I can just guess what they'll get by their age."