Last Saturday the 4th Annual Ice Cream Social went down in Ashland, Oregon. Just over three years ago I bought Bessie just north of town in Grants Pass and fixed her up so I could drive around Ashland selling ice cream. At the end of summer I decided it’d be a good idea to throw a big FREE ice cream social to thank all the folks in town who had been supporting me all summer. At the time I had no idea this would turn into a yearly tradition and that that day would be the launch of the journey to give away half a million free ice creams.
With the help of Locals Guide and sponsors Gateway Real Estate, Today’s Denistry, Happy Falafel, and Lightning Copy, we were able to give away over 800 free ice creams to the hundreds of people in attendance. There’s something magical about these Socials. One of the special things about Ashland is that it’s a small town that still holds on to that community feel. When you walk down the street, there’s a pretty good chance the person coming the other way is going to wave, smile, or say hi. To gather a bunch of these like-minded people of all ages together in one place for free ice cream creates an overwhelming joyful experience where everyone is happy and getting to know their neighbors around them.
One of my favorite moments every summer is driving down East Main St. toward the ice cream social in Garfield Park. The event is set to start at 3 and Shields keeps everyone entertained until we’re set to arrive around 3:10. When we get to the park you can see everyone lined up halfway across the park. Once they hear the tunes and see Bessie everyone starts screaming and, as we get closer, people start clapping. By that time I have a perma-grin plastered on my face and we park and slide open the door to greet everyone. This is where the bull horn really comes in handy.
Irene, the local celebrity clerk from Bi Mart hopped on board as did our friend Renee. The three of us did our best to keep the line moving at a quick pace but it’s a bit hard when you haven’t seen people for a year or more and you want to briefly catch up. We were scheduled to be there til 5:00 and just before then we ran out of all the Fudge Bars, Creamsicles, It’s Its and Spiderman pops. Luckily I had set aside a few dozen pieces of chocolate Dagoba donated and was able to appease the late comers with some not-so-frozen sweets.
Now we just have to find a way to bottle these things up so we can do them all over the country next summer. Hopefully with the launching of our new website in the near future we’ll have templates available for posters, press releases, and everything else needed so people can organize them and then all Bessie and I have to do is drive up and sling some cream, say hi, then move on to the next town down the road.
Check out this review from Auntie Andie about the Social, it’s good
See ya next year!
