You’ve probably sat in the gazebo on the hill just up from the Main Arena to enjoy a meal or an elephant ear or maybe even some ice cream from the ice cream truck that was introduced to the Chelsea Community Fair four years ago.
Well, this year, you’ll be able to enjoy hand-dipped ice cream or maybe even a milkshake from the Ice Cream parlor, a new building on the fairgrounds. Yes, this year, a new 20-by-20 building with two serving windows had been erected since you said good-bye to the 2015 fair last August.
And, when you see Earl Heller while you’re roaming around the fairgrounds this year, thank him for bringing the original ice cream truck to the fair and know that although it won’t be parked on the hill this year, its insides have been incorporated into the new ice cream parlor building.
“Our fair is for kids,” Heller said of the original concept of the ice cream truck. “Ice cream is for kids and once we started offering it, it went over pretty well.”
Heller found the truck, cleaned it up and rewired it and the fair added a new offering to visitors — good, quality hand-dipped ice cream at a fair price.
Its popularity with fair-goers resulted in long lines and the volunteers trying to keep up with all the orders were a little cramped inside, Heller said.
“We needed to do something,” he said.
So fair board members looked carefully for a spot to locate an ice cream shack and since folks were already enjoying that breeze that seems to always be present in the Ken McCalla Memorial Gazebo, which is dedicated to the former fair board president, locating it there seemed like the perfect spot.
“It didn’t obstruct any views and was the perfect fit,” said Fair Board President Rick Boham.
And, you can credit Neil Horning for overseeing the new ice cream offerings. He said there will be chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, rainbow, mint chocolate chip, butter pecan and chocolate moose flavors scooped into a cup this year.
He said the milkshake choices will be vanilla or chocolate.
Horning orders the ice cream by the tub and about 150 tubs are consumed each year.
The fair board voted to include commercial grade elements such as a three-compartment sink, insulation and walls.
“It’s a first-class deal,” Heller said.
Each year, the profits from ice cream sales go back into the community, Horning said, and he expects the $3 per cup price to remain the same.
“The price is fair and affordable and it’s a great value for what you get. Come out and eat some ice cream,” Heller said.
Or enjoy a chocolate or vanilla milkshake made from milk and real ice cream.
