A sure sign that the long cold winter is finally over is the annual opening of the Houlton Farms Dairy Bar on Military Street, followed by the Mill Pond Dairy Bar in Hodgdon usually a day later.
Trips to the dairy bar are fond memories for many in this part of The County. Many can recall wonderful trips to Drakes Dairy Bar, located on top of Drakes Hill, for an evening of ice cream and round of miniature golf. The more avid golfers could drop a dollar for a bucket of golf balls and whack away on the driving range.
Others will recall the days of carhops and car-side service provided at York’s Dairy Bar on the North Road. Burgers, fries and chili dogs were the name of the game at York’s and often a meal there was followed by a trip to the Borderland Drive-In for a movie.
Those establishments are long gone, but the memories remain. Thankfully, Houlton Farms and Mill Pond dairy bars are still in operation to give today’s youngsters an opportunity to make memories of their own.
In an age before the Internet, when imaginations ran wild, the question of which flavor of “special” ice cream was offered in addition to the old standby of vanilla was one of the most anticipated moments in my childhood.
Would the dairy bar have strawberry or black raspberry? Or would it be banana or orange pineapple? Those were important questions and the subject to many playground conversations as to which flavor was the best.
The absolute worst feeling as a child was arriving at the dairy bar to see “coffee” listed as the night’s special flavor. I mean what kid eats coffee ice cream? Thankfully there was always vanilla to fall back on, which could be coated with sprinkles or dip top to make it more palatable.
My mother never deviated from her order. A plain, boring vanilla cone was the only thing she ordered, and still does to this very day. My father always preferred coffee or its half-brother “mocha” as his cone of choice.
I distinctly recall a special ice cream invention that Drakes offered. It was called the “rocket” and came in a special pointed cone filled with ice cream. On top of it was a miniature cone filled with either hot fudge or caramel before being topped with yet another small twist of ice cream. It was a challenge to eat, but biting into that cone filled with hot fudge was a little piece of heaven.
Every year I ask the dairy bar workers if they have “rockets” and every year I get an inquisitive look on the face of said dairy bar employee who has no idea what I am talking about.
As a child, the promise of milkshake or brownie sundae was a surefire way to motivate me. Little League coaches would regularly make promises of ice creams if we hit home runs or won a playoff game. And those trips normally involved piling as many ballplayers onto the back of a pick-up truck for a trip to the dairy bar.
That is something today’s generation will never experience, but in hindsight that’s probably not a bad thing. Piling eight or ten kids into the back of a moving vehicle was probably not one of the safest things our parents did. But I don’t recall anyone ever getting hurt.
I’m not sure who coined the term “Awful Awful” first, but the name sure does fit because they are awfully awfully good. This past weekend I introduced this heavenly combination of milkshake topped with more ice cream to my daughters Isabel and Oliva. Seeing their eyes get huge when handed their drinks brought me back 35 years to when I was a youngster getting one for the first time.
Hopefully, years from now, my children will take their kids to the local dairy bar to experience the same joys … and maybe, just maybe, they’ll bring me a rocket cone.
Joseph Cyr is a staff writer for the Houlton Pioneer Times. He can be reached at pioneertimes@nepublish.com or 532-2281.
