Do any of you remember the little white Ice Cream truck that cruised slowly through residential neighborhoods playing a happy little tune? You went out on the street and he stopped and opened up the freezer door and pulled out a large tray with all kinds of ice cream treats: Popsickles, Cones, Drumsticks, Sherbet, etc. Hal
You know------The one that had chimes or bells to let you know he was coming. Well here at Assisted Living we have our own version to partake our choice as we await the election returns.
I was a country boy. We didn't have a neighborhood ice cream truck. We didn't even have a neighborhood. I do, however, remember when the best ice cream was homemade. We didn't have an ice cream maker but the church had a couple of them, and a couple of my aunts had ice cream makers.
Good Humor Company had an army of three-wheeled tricycles, the two front wheels supporting an insulated freezer box full of ice cream goodies! The rear wheel supported a regular bicycle seat and steering moved the front wheels, pedals driving the contraption down the street. The "handlebars" had jingly bells on them activated by the young driver, usually a young man in late high school. They operated during the warm months in the Chicago area. They sold Dreamsicles, Popsicles, Fudgesicles, Creamsicles, Ice Cream Sandwiches, and frozen bananas. Frank
We had Mister Softee. The usual frozen bars plus soft-serve cones and cups dispensed right at the truck. This was in Indiana in the 50s and early 60s. I don't really recall any ice cream trucks when we moved to Virginia in '63. I just read that they were founded in Philly in 1956 in Philly. They're still in business, and are on top of current events:
Like @Ken Anderson, I grew up in the boonies. The closest thing to an ice cream truck was my grandma's hand crank machine with ice and rock salt.
In front of my house in June: LINK We had them pass by our house when I was a kid, but we lived a little too far out of town, and the highway too busy for it to stop safely for kids. I never partook.
We still have one. If the sun is shining and even sometimes when it isn’t, the ice cream truck rolls buy around 3:00 in the afternoon except on Sundays and really cold days.
Not one of these in the farming country when I was in high school. Didn't make homemade ice cream either. Only store bought. What my step-dad did make was taffy in the winter. He could make it hard or soft and used a shelf bracket to pull it on the back porch. I'll have to do another thread, in this forum, about homemade taffy. But, had one come thru our last apartment complex during summer months. No bells, but a catchy tune was playing. Not many kids in that complex, so I guess not much business, but, he did show up.
I don't recall us ever making ice cream, but with 6 kids those machines would hardly have sufficient output. I think a neighbor made it once, as I recall. I'd like to see a taffy thread. I've never made it, or any other candy.
Nope, as a young adult there was one in town. Italian Ice was great. We had dairy delivery from the creamery we sold milk to. Cheese Ice Cream and Pasteurized milk.
I also grew up in a small town, and had no idea that ice cream trucks even existed until after I was grown and married. We had a little ice cream shop drive-in called Dairi-Delite, and they had wonderful ice cream cones and milk shakes. When we had the fair in the fall, we usually stopped at the Dari-Delite and had an ice cream cone to enjoy at the fair. However, when I was younger, my folks had a small neighborhood grocery store, so we had a real ice cream TRUCK that came every week and brought us all kinds of ice cream, milk, and dairy products. Like candy, ice cream was something that was always there, so it was really no big thing for me when we had ice cream. I am not sure that this truck was the one with ice cream or not, but this is how my ice cream arrived when I was a kid. No bells or music, just a huge truck load to fill up the ice cream freezer at the store . Back then, ice cream came in pints and quarts, not half gallons, at least not in our little store. Plus we had all of the popsicles, fudgesicles, creamsicles, and ice cream sandwiches. The little girl in the picture is me, waiting to see what we had delivered that day.