The Peppermint Stick Candy Store in Boyertown has expanded, opening The Peppermint Stick Ice Cream Parlor in the adjacent space that recently was vacated by a dental office.
Members of the business community joined owners Gene and Rachael Kehler and their staff for the grand opening of ice cream shop on Sept. 6.
Building a Better Boyertown Main Street Manager Ellen Martignetti said they are happy Rachael Kehler has been a business owner in Boyertown for the past nine years.
“We’re happy that she’s decided to expand her ice cream business. She’s been a staple of our main street for nine years,” Martignetti said.
Berks-Mont Business Association President Vicki Kriczky said Kehler has been an integral part of the organization.
“She’s really ingrained in the community in many ways,” Kriczky said. “We’re happy to see her expand her business and continue to serve the community.”
“I enjoy seeing the local economic development that’s occurring in town and seeing businesses really grow, develop and revitalizing the town to be even better,” said Stephani Ziegler, TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce smbassador.
Boyertown Mayor Lori Carnes said the attention to detail is phenomenal.
Walking through the ice cream parlor door, visitors are transported back to the 1940s.
“I really love that era,” Rachael Kehler said. “I like the 1940s because that’s when women started to get their independence. They started working. They were taking over all the jobs for the men. You had Rosie the Riveter, and you had all the women doing these industrial jobs. It’s just a very classy era. Everyone was working together for the country. And I like the look of the clothing.”
Behind the counter, employees Ella Frantzen, Julia Eckert, Aaliyah Little, Benton Newberry and Gabe Kehler wore aprons and hats or headbands with a vintage feel.
“It’s cool, I got to see it all come together,” said Frantzen, who previously worked at the candy store and now works at both.
Kehler sets up a candy store each year at the World War II Weekend event hosted by the Mid Atlantic Air Museum at the Reading Regional Airport, where she met Sharon Rea of Sharon’s Creative Sewing, who creates clothing in historic patterns from the Civil War to the 1940s.
“I found a picture from Bauses Drugstore when they had a soda fountain,” Kehler said. “It’s the same skirts (aprons) the women wore.”
The ice cream parlor features more than 16 Longacres ice cream flavors and a variety of sundaes and banana splits. A highlight on the menu are cub sundaes — Strawbeary Cub, Bearnana Split Cub, Polar Bear Cub and Smokey Bear Cub — each made in a bear faced waffle cone.
Vintage soda fountain
One of the things that makes this ice cream parlor stand out is the vintage soda fountain.
Inspired by historic photographs and recreated by Gene Kehler, a historic restoration craftsman, the soda fountain bar was made with reclaimed lumber from local buildings and features authentic fixtures and décor.
The renovation took three months to complete.
The soda jerk — the term “jerk” comes from the motion used to pull the soda fountain handle, which dispensed carbonated water — serves up a variety of fountain drinks.
The menu offers soft drinks, a wide array of soda syrups, and 14 specialty drinks: Dave the Duck, The Utah, The Boy Scout, Strawberry Belle, The Peach Ring, Bomb Shell, Lindy Hop, Chocolate Egg Cream, Vanilla Twin Pop, Diet Utah, Blue Angel, Gremlin, Galaxy and Blue Lagoon.
During the grand opening, Richard Weaver, 14, stopped in for a Utah on his walk home from school. The Utah is made with Dr Pepper, coconut, vanilla and cream.
Dave The Duck, another popular concoction, is made with blue raspberry, Sprite and vanilla cream and comes with a small rubber duck.
The Blue Lagoon, made with blue raspberry and Sprite, is served in a mini fish bowl with an umbrella and Swedish fish.
World Cow mural painting
To coincide with the grand opening, Kehler partnered with the United Way of Boyertown to bring D.J. Barry of Vermont to town.
“I followed him on TikTok,” Kehler said. “I saw him painting these murals all over the whole world and I thought, that’s really cool. I wonder what the chance of getting him to come out here for our grand opening.”
“We had sponsorships for the mural,” said Nicole Clark, United Way of Boyertown. “We also had a cow crawl (to raise money). We had about 80 people come out and walk around the local businesses.”
“We were just hoping to raise about $1,500,” said Clark. “We raised close to $3,000.”
Barry, a street artist and founder of World Cow, travels the country and beyond painting murals and spreading the message “We’re all spots in the same cow.”
“World Cow is a global art movement, a global street art movement,” Barry said. “It’s in over 50 countries.”
His cow has unique spots in the shape of the world’s continents.
Barry left his home at 3 a.m. and began painting the World Cow mural around noon on Sept. 6. The mural takes 7 to 8 hours to complete the painting.
“We promote kindness no matter your race or gender,” he said. “We’re in this life together. We believe that we should be kind to each other instead of giving each other a hard time.”
For more information, visit www.PeppermintStickCandyStore.com or follow us on social media.
Source: Berkshire mont