Kiwanis' longevity shows dairy bars will never go out of style on P.E.I.

For decades, Basil Hambly has greeted Islanders looking to cool down in the summer heat with a warm smile and a cold treat.

"I talked to a lady a little while ago, and she had come here as a kid," Hambly said. "Now she was bringing her grandkids here. And she just had lots of fond memories."

Hambly has been operating the Kiwanis Dairy Bar in Charlottetown's Victoria Park since the late '80s, and as such has become a familiar face to Islanders who are fond of their icy treats. The small, often seasonally-run takeout spots — where ice cream is king — are a staple on the Island. 

And Islanders sure do seem to love ice cream. P.E.I. has at least 55 dairy bars currently in operation, with Kiwanis being the one that's been around for the longest.

Barrie MacWilliams has been in the dairy industry for over 53 years, supplying dairy bars with ice cream for about as long.

He also supplied Rainbow Valley theme park — a popular summertime spot for tourists and Islanders alike — until it closed in 2005. 

"I can recall getting calls at home and somebody saying, 'Well, we didn't have enough of a certain flavour,'" MacWilliams said.

"Of course I'd jump in my car and go pick the ice cream up and take it to them. And you didn't mind doing that because they were great people and it was a fun product to deliver."

An evolution

MacWilliams said dairy bars have been around for a while but really started popping up in the 1960s, the same decade he got into the business.

People who were around then may remember the Garden City Dairy ice cream parlour on Great George Street, or the ice cream sold straight from the ADL creamery in Summerside. 

"There wasn't a lot of soft machines available at that time. And then in the early '70s, the soft machines started coming on," MacWilliams said.

"[Dairy bars] were very small and I recall one that was in National Park in Cavendish and of course summertime, the National Park was always busy and lots of people there. And actually they were probably one of the first that I remember that did have soft ice cream in the early '70s."

MacWilliams said that most places open back then aren't there any more — except for Kiwanis.

That staying power translates into a lot of ice cream being moved. Hambly said every summer, Kiwanis donates thousands of dollars from its proceeds to charity.

But the names aren't the only things that have changed in the ice cream game since the Garden City days. 

New flavours introduced

"We moved from from 25 to 40, 50 flavours. The inclusions were unreal. You know, you had your Smarties and your bubblegum and all of these things, cotton candy," MacWilliams said.

Old staple ones — your maple walnut, your orange pineapple — [have stood] the test of time.— Basil Hambly

"You say, 'banana tiger, what is that?' Some companies used chocolate and an orange-pineapple, or chocolate and a banana to get stripes and they put it through swirls so it actually looked like tiger stripes. And that was kind of weird."

At Kiwanis, Hambly currently sells about 22 hard-serve flavours as well as soft serve.

"Old staple ones — your maple walnut, your orange pineapple — [have stood] the test of time over those years," he said.

"You hate to put an age bracket on an ice cream, but when you have some of those older flavours, then it's more of an older population. But even the young kids now are enjoying those ... Salted caramel is probably our number one. That and cookie dough."

What's your favourite?

Chocolate cookie dough is what Hayden Curry, 12, got at Kiwanis this weekend. It's his current favourite.

"It was actually chocolate first," Curry said. "I guess I just love chocolate cookie dough a lot more better than just chocolate."

Noah Peters, another tween, said salted caramel is hands-down the best, though he got peanut butter sundae to "try something new." The verdict: "It's close to sea-salted caramel. But not really close," he said. "I just love caramel."

Hambly said he loves ice cream, though he can't eat much of it: he's lactose intolerant.

Nevertheless, he can sneak in a bite or two of the old classics from time to time.

"I like our soft ice cream, our vanilla soft."