Ice Cream Man Round Up
Friday, March 28th, 2008I'm really wishing for summer at the moment so I went looking for pictures of ice cream trucks. What I found was an amazing array of wonderful strangeness surrounding the ice cream on wheels trade:
We have two ice cream men that drive by in their respective vehicles throughout the summer months. The first guy is exactly what you’d expect from an Ice Cream man. He is a jovial looking man driving around in a big boxy truck, with colorful stickers on it. And his music is also what you would expect–cheerful happy little kiddy ditties. But he… He doesn’t come around here very often.
I heard it for the first time a week after moving into my new house -- the jangly strains of the creepiest ice cream truck melody in the world. It was filled with a Danny Elfman-ish foreboding. It was happy and childlike, yet somehow brooding, like a melancholy, yet jaunty Irish folk song. I thought it was just me, that I was just imagining things, until the truck passed by one day while I had a visitor. My friend asked, "What is that? Hell's ice cream truck?"
[Complete with audio of the ice cream truck's song]
Ice Cream Trucks Leading Cause of Insanity
"There's a definite and distinct correlation," said Dr. Elmer Fedgeslicker, a psychiatrist and lead consultant in the study. "Individuals who live within 300 feet of high ice cream truck density/volume regions were statistically four times more likely to have their reason spontaneously unseated than the national averages. This applied in all eleven countries we studied, with little regional variation."
[Yes, this is a parody.]
When I was in college, I was aware of an ice cream man who did have a sinister alter ego. Let's just say he sold a little something illegal along with his ice cream sandwiches and Bomb Pops. I almost got run over by a roommate barreling out of our house after the ice cream truck that played "It's a Small World", only to return with a dime bag and an orange sherbert Push-Up.
[Read the comments and look at the gallery]
Lessons from an Ice Cream Truck
I was amazed at how many ice cream treats this salesman sold in the ten minutes he was stopped. As he rolled off again and the music started, I saw more children chasing him down the street literally screaming for ice scream. The ice cream truck was clearly a magnet, yet I never saw it on rainy or cold days.
[Not an actual ice cream truck story but a how-to-blog post trying to feel like something more substantial.]
Strange Ice Cream Truck Illustration
I’ve been seeing this truck around my neighborhood for years, and I finally snapped a picture of it. Can anybody explain it to me?
Scary Larry Sells His Last Ice Cream
The guy was probably scary twenty years ago. If this was anywhere but Boise, I’d say an ice cream man named Scary Larry was probably selling more than ice cream. Maybe a little Mac Dre on the side.
But we just wanted to eat ice cream in a pile of rust colored leaves. I got Petra to trade me the chocolate nut covered thing for the fruity thing. She thought she was getting a good deal.
Then I took this picture. Which captured my mood perfectly.
Petra asked: “Is it going to be summer soon, dad?”
[Cute, and actually touching. 
]
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