Ice Cream Trucks: The Real Symbol Of Summer

Growing up what symbolized for you that it was Summer? Was it the last day of school? Was it the Fourth of July? Was it being able to see your friends socially before 1pm? For me, it was the ice cream truck. Nothing said summer is here more than been able to buy a cold sweet treat off of a vehicle driving down my street. The whole process made me feel special. Not unlike my Amazon deliveries do today. The only difference is I have an estimate when Amazon is expected, with the ice cream truck, I had to be in the right place at the right time.

Speaking of the right place at the right time, I have to give an honorable mention to my favorite ice cream truck, “Mister Softee”. Those blue and white trucks with that song playing are forever sealed in my childhood memories. When I was younger, my favorite ice cream was vanilla soft serve. Before Mister Softee, the only way I could get soft serve ice cream was to have someone make it for me or go to a building where it was sold. Neither option was always convenient. That is why catching a Mister Softee truck seem like a privilege. I wonder when brothers William and James Conway formed Mister Softee in 1956, did they realize 65 years later there would be over 625 trucks nationwide selling their products.

Although Mister Softee was my favorite ice cream truck, the whole concept of sweetened frozen treats being delivered to the masses has to go to Harry Burt. In the early 1920s, Burt was the owner of a Youngstown, Ohio, ice cream parlor. Expounding on the concept of the Eskimo Pie, Burt put a stick into the frozen treat to make it less messy. He then outfitted twelve street vending trucks in with rudimentary freezers and bells to sell his "Good Humor Ice Cream Suckers". Without Harry Burt, I don’t know where the ice cream truck would be.

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month. That was the same month and year I hailed an ice cream truck by myself for the first time. Even though I was a child, I felt like such an adult. Being able to command the truck to stop and render me a sweet of my choice was so empowering. As I have aged, I don’t frequently engage in dairy deliciousness. That doesn’t stop me from appreciating all of the heroes who took it upon themselves to retrofit former milk trucks and turn them into one of my favorite parts of summer.