By Jordan Schwartzberg
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
What’s always freezing cold but they make many people grin from ear-to-ear? A creamy ice cream or an ice-cold Baltimore snowball as the weather warms.
After a cautious pandemic year, several community ice cream and snowball locations are looking forward to this spring.
Local Towson hot-spot, The Charmery, has been in the area for eight years. Owner David Alima is eager to see the happy faces of his customers once again.
“We’re looking forward to the long, socially-distanced lines,” Alima said. “We are so thankful for the support from within our community and we’re constantly re-adjusting to give the people what they want.”
When the pandemic first hit last March, Alima shut down The Charmery for a day or two. The restaurant then decided to offer pints of some of their unique flavors for delivery. Fan-favorites include Old Bay Caramel and Cake Kittamacookie.
After those first couple of days of only offering pint delivery, they went back to allowing the preorder of all menu items for the rest of the summer.
Since last season, they have adjusted and are pretty much back to normal, albeit with a few safety precautions such as enforced mask-wearing and socially distanced lines.
“Our main concern is for the well-being of our employees and customers,” Alima said. “We constantly are re-adjusting to give the customers what they want.”
Kona Ice has been a Parkville staple for the last 12 years. The chain has many locations throughout the country and quite a few in Maryland. The owner of the East Joppa Road location, Joni Elmore, said adjusting to COVID was hard, but her company was able to manage.
“When we first closed, my first thought was that we would be fine in two weeks,” Elmore said. “We then opened up after those first two weeks running the trucks and doing neighborhood deliveries. I knew we had to get up and rolling.”
Last month, Elmore received the most truck bookings she ever experienced in any March. Kona Ice is going to be running their fourth truck, and they added soft-serve ice cream, hand-dipped ice cream and milkshakes to their menu in Parkville.
“Everybody has been amazing with helping us through COVID-19,” Elmore said. “We can’t wait to get back out there and see everyone soon.”
Some popular springtime locations never stopped seeing people, such as Tropicool. They are excited for even larger crowds this season.
The Falls Road homemade Italian ice location opened in mid-March last year and never shut down.
Owner Lydia Fitzsimmons put in the proper procedures necessary to stay open. Fitzsimmons made sure to wipe down the counters and all credit cards with alcohol. Masks were also mandated and social distancing was put in place while customers waited in line.
“My establishment is COVID-friendly,” Fitzsimmons said. “We were aggressive in following protocols right from the beginning. We wanted to make sure everyone felt safe and comfortable coming to us.”
Most of their customers did. Their business didn’t take a huge hit, and they continued to sell products out of their restaurant. This spring, they are looking forward to being able to give back to the community.
“Tropicool has been philanthropic since we first opened,” Fitzsimmons said. “We love giving back to the schools and supporting the local kids. We couldn’t have survived COVID without the help from the local families. Everyone has been so supportive and appreciative of the measures we took and will continue to take to keep everyone safe.”