Months ago Jeremiah and I started working on a secret project. We’ll we kinda kept it secret cuz we weren’t sure if it was actually going to happen. With a lot of help, we found a way to talk Toyota into taking us on their YarisWorks tour. They donated two Toyota Yaris‘ that Jeremiah turned into Bessita’s – Little Ice Cream Trucks. For the last two months Starr Sink and Valerie Rodriquez traveled all over the country giving away thousands of ice creams. Here’s a bunch of pictures and Starr’s roundup of her summer tour.
As this east coast Yaris event draws to a close, Bessita feels a little lost. Her identity is cruising around with the Toyota Yaris folks and giving free ice cream to anyone who happens by. These are the days of chocolate and strawberry. She has so much fun everywhere she goes, people cannot help but to be drawn to the world’s littleist ice cream truck. AND IT IS FREE! A simple act like driving down the street becomes an adventure with Bessita. Here are some highlights:
Boston
Bessita arrives in Boston just in time to keep those Northerners from melting in the heat. This is our first event and everything is still figuring itself out, but it is fun nontheless. We were set up in the Government Center area of Boston, pretty good for foot traffic, but better for traffic traffic. The best part of that was running out into the street to deliver ice cream to people in their cars. Good people of Boston, thank you for opening your arms and your mouths to our Ice Cream world….(Listened to Chicken Payback by A Band of Bees)
New York
I have never in my life been hotter than I was in New York City. (ed. Agreed, BIG time) l lost all social skills except talking about how hot it was. I am from the South. I went to college in Florida. I am no stranger to heat and NYC was close to boiling. If you didn’t have to be outside, you weren’t, but the people that were seemed awfully grateful for the ice cream. It was too hot to eat creamy or chocolatey, but the Great White Lemon Ice and the Hyper Stripe red white and blue went down real nice. Bessita and I stopped by the headquarters of Vice Magazine and cooled them down a little bit, and the same with world famous KCDC Skateshop. (Listened to Summer in the City by Regina Spektor)
Philadelphia
There is a song I know by The Hold Steady that states, “Philly’s full of friendly friends, that’ll love you like a brother,” and those boys are right. Philly is not only one of the most beautiful cities we have spent any time in, it is friendly and welcoming. The patrons of the park were excited to see us, and truly interested in the Yaris art projects and Ice Cream Man treats. Our Saturday pool party was about 500 strong, and no one left empty handed. (Listened to Girl in the War by Josh Ritter)
Richmond
Richmond was not on the Toyota Yaris schedule,but turned out to be the most exciting for us. My great friend Ward Teft and his crew at Chop Suey Books set up a social for us, and we were featured in both the Richmond Times Dispatch, and Richmond.com. I even signed my first autograph!!! I signed not only the cut out article, but this lady’s popsicle stick once she was finished with it…After a hard day of tubing down the James River, an ice cream is just what the doctor ordered. (listened to just ice cream truck music, only there for a day)
Atlanta
This was the hardest city we were in. By this I mean that we were set up in Woodruff park, which has a booming homeless population. I am no stranger to that factor, I got mobbed in Tomkins Square Park in New York City, but this park had patrol and back-up. I was advised not to open my trunk because the populants had recently gotten violent with the Monster Energy Drink promoters. This lead to a stealthier approach to limitless free ice cream. I would lead people around with me and sneak them a bomb pop. We had a few night events in the hip parts of town, and our Saturday celebration was at “little five points,’ which is where we should have been all week. Very cool people and a bustling underculture in Atlanta. (listened to Gravity’s Gone by the Drive By Truckers)
Knoxville
In Knoxville we were on the news. The five o’clock local news, and it was great. They got my name wrong, but it was still pretty cool. The rest of the week people kept shouting, “Hey Ma-an, I saw you on the TeeVee the other day!” I got clear wiped out of Ice Cream everyday by One O’ clock. There was a line a half a block long at some points. We were in Market Square and it was high in foot traffic and business lunches needing something sweet afterwards. Yee Haw print press is located here in Knoxville, and I got my very own printed pink Yaris to take as a memory of the best summer ever!!! (listened to I’m Going Down by Bruce Springsteen)
Chicago
Chicago is a beautiful city, and if you close your eyes you can pretend that the roar of the “L” is an ocean wave crashing down. We are in Wicker Park, and it is full of hungry children and potential Yaris drivers. The people here seem excited about learning that there sometimes IS such a thing as free lunch. Bessita officially ends her tour as a back up Yaris girl in Chicago, and it is exciting to see what the next step is going to be for her!!! (listened to For Real by Okkervil River) (ed. Great Song, check it)
