Canton man takes to the road with musical ice cream truck

The jolly tunes of an ice cream truck have started making the rounds in St. Lawrence County.

Jeffrey C. Stevens, Canton, is leasing an ice cream truck through Mr. Ding-A-Ling, a Latham-based company that sells ice cream novelties including ice cream sandwiches, Italian ices, creamsicles and push-ups.

He went for a test drive last week in Canton and Potsdam and spent much of the past weekend selling ice cream at Memorial Day celebrations in Russell.

"I've already had an excellent response," Mr. Stevens said. "I've had a number of parents as excited as the kids. They're telling me they haven't seen an ice cream truck since they were kids."

Prices range from $1 for bomb pops to $3.50 for a large vanilla ice cream brownie. After school recesses for summer vacation, he said, he expects to operate from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. For the next few weeks he will operate from 2 to 8 p.m.

This summer he also plans to sell in Massena, Gouverneur, Russell and Norwood and said he already has obtained necessary permits from those municipalities as well as the state Health Department.

Besides making regular trips to communities, Mr. Stevens plans to participate in several summer events, including the St. Lawrence County Dairy Princess Parade on Saturday in Canton and Fourth of July festivities in Morristown and Massena. In August, he hopes to be at the Gouverneur & St. Lawrence County Fair.

"It's going to be a fun summer. I'm hoping it's a hot summer that's good for ice cream," Mr. Stevens said.

Mr. Stevens moved to the area from Washington, D.C., about 10 years ago and said he has been contemplating getting into the ice cream business for a couple of years. He also attends SUNY Canton and is a newspaper carrier for Northern New York Newspapers.