Ice Cream Man

Fifth Annual Ashland Ice Cream Social - 2008

Words by Ice Cream Man
Photos by CraSH, Ice Cream Man, Jay Newman, Sue Newman

For the fifth straight year we rolled up to Garfield Park in Ashland, Oregon for our Free Ice Cream Social. Ashland is where Ice Cream Man all began and I’ve vowed to return every summer I’m on the road to gift treats to young and old alike. The best part about The Social is that Shields with Locals Guide puts it all together so Craig and I just had to make it from Philadelphia to Ashland in just over three days. Thank the ice cream gods for Newt, our new/dependable truck.

The trip cross country was a bit tiresome but Crash and I balanced it out so that we wouldn’t be completely dead by the time we got to town. The Social was on Saturday at 3:00PM and we left Philly at 10:30 at night on Tuesday. That night we got in almost 200 miles then did 1000 the next day to get to Omaha where we were dropping Bessita for the Free Yr Radio party with Dan Deacon that is going down at the Slowdown there on Sunday September 7th. The next day we made it over 900 miles to Park City then slipped into Salt Lake City to pick up some cream for the social at Dad’s Ice Cream. The final major leg of the trip was 800 miles to Klamath Falls before rolling into Ashland on Saturday morn to get breakfast at Breadboard.

Ashland is a special place. It’s nestled in between the Cascade and Siskiyou Mountains just over the California border off I-5. If given a choice to live anywhere in this country, it’s where I want to be most. The weather isn’t too extreme, it’s not too crowded, and people are really friendly. I can’t even tell you how many people waved HI as I was driving through town. You should stop by and visit if you’re ever passing through and you’ll see what I mean. Stop by Breadboard, Wiley’s World or Happy Falafel and there’s a good chance you might get stuck in town and never wanna leave.

Craig and I were rushing to get the truck all cleaned up and we barely made it to Garfield Park on time. As I rolled down East Main Street heading there I could see hundreds of people lined up and waiting. This is one of my favorite moments all year and I couldn’t believe that this was the FIFTH time I was able to do this. Once I got to the normal parking spot and opened up shop, I could see tons of happy and familiar faces waiting for treats. Mike FM was on hand for a live broadcast and it was cool to hear them talking about The Social in the background then playing tunes like Cheap Trick’s “Surrender”.

There are so many reasons why the social rocks. First off, there’s tons of kids. At most events we give cream to big kids (aka adults) but here there are just as many real kids as big kids at the park. It’s been four years since I started in Ashland and it’s amazing how fast people grow up

We stuck around for a couple hours and Craig, Jay, and Sue shot a bunch of pics while Dan from Today’s Dentistry handed out toothbrushes and Shields kept the crowd satiated with Dagoba Chocolate. We try to only give one frozen treat to each person but we encouraged them to hop back in line and get seconds.. or thirds… or fifths. I think the record this year was at least eight.

Ok… so it’s maybe not the healthiest for kids to have eight ice creams. We did give them tooth brushes though. Today’s Dentistry has been a sponsor of the social for a few years and on Monday I headed over there to get some dental work done. They did some x-rays, a cleaning, and even filled a couple cavities. Now that’s the best sponsor an ice cream man could hope for. Shields and Dan have a new project they’re working on too, www.newdocs.com. It’s a social network for doctors and they have tools and tips to help out new doctors. Hopefully we’ll be able to do a bunch of new projects with them next year. I love the idea of slinging cream at a dental convention.

Thanks again to Shields and Locals Guide for putting it all together and to Charter, Rhonda Lewis, Today’s Dentistry, Happy Falafel, and everyone who made it possible. Thanks to Amy for helping on the truck too. We’re already looking forward to next year and hopefully we can make it even bigger.