Have ice cream, will travel

Grotte uses truck to cart cool treats through Fergus neighborhoods

By Susan Larson | The Daily Journal

Published Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Drawing on her own happy childhood memories, Laurie Grotte has added a piece of Americana to Fergus Falls, operating an old-fashioned ice cream truck.

“When I was growing up in Coon Rapids, I remember hearing the music box of the ice cream truck coming down the street and getting so excited,” she said. “When my kids were small and we lived in Grand Forks, there was a truck there, too, and my kids would get excited.”

When she moved to Fergus Falls in 2001, an ice cream truck, she noted, was conspicuously absent.

“It was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to (purchase a truck). It was something I was able to do this year, time-wise and financially. The time was just right.”

In March, she began an online search for a truck.

“I Googled ‘ice cream trucks’ and found a converted postal Jeep with a music box and loudspeaker. A lady in Portland, Ore., had a whole fleet and I bought one of hers.”

A semi delivered it to Grotte’s door.

“The hardest part of this whole thing,” she said of starting her as-yet unnamed business, “was finding a shipper to get the truck here.”

The truck arrived June 20. Grotte had it on the road July 13 and plans to deliver as long as weather and demand allow.

“I got kind of a late start. I want to start as soon as I can next year.”

Still in the process of creating a route, Grotte drives all over most days from 6:30 to 9 p.m., observing which neighborhoods have the highest demand. If you would like her to visit your neighborhood, call 998-3677.

Soft serve cones are not available from Grotte’s truck. She sells prepackaged novelties — Good Humor, Klondike and Popsicle brands — with prices ranging from 50 cents to $1.50. Inventory is stored in a freezer in her home and also in the truck freezer.

Despite the brevity, business has been good.

“It’s far exceeded my expectations,” she said. “People stand and look at first. Kids see me coming and run in the house for money and run back out. They’re jumping up and down and clapping. I remember that’s how I felt, hearing it come from a block away. A lot of them have never seen an ice cream truck before. That’s what makes it fun.”

Grotte has retained her job as a part-time receptionist at the Lutheran Brethren Synodical office. Her husband, Charles, and daughter, Matti, 19, enjoy riding along in the ice cream truck and helping out. She also has another daughter, Amy, 26.