It’s been less than a month since Robert and Velma Woodard started their new side business.
They’d had the idea for a while. For years, they traveled with their son, Robert, to watch him play baseball. From Orlando, Florida to Southaven, they noticed a common trend.
“We were at those baseball games all day long in the hot summer heat, my husband just got the bright idea one day,” Velma Woodard said. “He said, ‘You know, I think I want to go in the snow cone business.’
“The kids are always eating snow cones,” she said.
Velma Woodard, whose main job is being the assistant for Columbus Mayor Robert Smith, said her husband began his homework.
“He knew we had to wait until the right time,” she said, “which would be when (our son) finishes playing traveling baseball.”
Velma said her husband did not want to open a snow cone stand, however.
“He wanted one that was going to be transient,” she said. “He didn’t want somewhere where he would have to sit all day and wait for someone to come to him. He wanted to serve the customers in the neighborhoods or festivals, community events, company picnics (and) birthday parties.”
Last month, Robert Woodard decided he was ready.
On a Monday, he called a company he had previously talked to about purchasing one of the Chevrolet Express vans they retrofit into a snow cone bus. A manufacturer for the company, Salt Lake City-based Snowie, told him a new bus would be off the assembly line in two days.
The Woodards got a one-way ticket out of Memphis and flew out to Salt Lake City. They went to the shop where the buses are made after their plane landed.
“They were surprised to see us,” Velma Woodard said. “The truck was not ready. We had to wait a couple of hours for them to get it ready.”
Then, they drove their new bus all the way back to Columbus, about a 1,750-mile trip.
Since they got back, they’ve set up a schedule where they hop in the truck during the week after they get off work and drive into Columbus neighborhoods.
“We try to go out probably about 5:30 or 6 o’clock until it gets dark,” she said, “and then we’ll take it home.”
They don’t do business on Wednesdays or Sundays. Wednesday is Bible study night, she said, and Sunday is the Lord’s day, so the Snowie stays home.
They try to find Saturday events that draw crowds, like when they went to the Bear Creek festival in Belmont a couple of weekends ago. They recently provided for a surprise children’s birthday party on another Saturday.
When they serve the cones, they hand patrons the ice. The 10 flavors they have, which range from Banana to Tiger’s Blood, are on the side of the truck. Once people buy the ice, they can customize their cone.
“As much flavor as you like, as many flavors as you like,” Woodard said.
Summer is officially over. Woodard said she and her husband will shut down the business when cooler weather takes hold. Then they’ll plot their course for the upcoming spring and summer. Preparation will include investing in more flavors, including sugar-free and natural varieties.
Velma Woodard said she’s already looking forward to taking the Snowie on the road next year.
“When I get off in the evening at 6 o’clock, I’m ready to jump in the Snowie and go through the neighborhood,” she said. “Not just kids, but adults are coming up and saying how cool the truck is. I enjoy seeing the smiles on the peoples’ faces.”
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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