FLINT (WJRT) – (08/05/14) – It’s an ice cream shop on wheels – and it’s finally ready to roll across Mid-Michigan.
“After one year, we’re ready to go, fully renovated, and we’re ready to open for any events that people have available,” said Josh Spencer, owner of Flint Trolley Ice Cream & Cafe.
Flint Trolley Ice Cream & Cafe plans to make its debut at Friday night’s Art Walk event in downtown Flint, followed by a week of service at next week’s Back to the Bricks.
“We’re going to have 14 flavors of hand dipped ice cream. We’re going to focus on Michigan-made ice creams,” Spencer said.
The trolley was built in Grand Rapids in 1986, and was used to shuttle shoppers at a Colorado outlet mall. It later ended up in Austin, Texas as a Food Truck. Last summer, Spencer bought it online and brought it to Flint. He’s spent the last year sprucing it up.
“The wood, all the mahogany has been scratched down to the bare wood, re-stained, the paint is new, the signage is new. Pretty much head to toe, this place has had a makeover. We’ve tried to keep historic on the interior. We did have to pull out the benches for the kitchen area, but we did leave the bell,” Spencer said.
The search is on to find a privately-owned spot to park the trolley for the remainder of summer and through the fall. Until that happens, or until the city of Flint allows food trucks downtown on city streets, the trolley will operate under a special events license and be available for festivals.
“The ultimate goal is to see this as a staple in downtown Flint, as a permanent structure, not as a mobile vendor, but really right now, if we have offers where other people want to bring us in with a great location and high traffic, that’s where we’ll be,” Spencer said.
Spencer believes that wherever Flint Trolley Ice Cream & Cafe ends up, it’s sure to be a big hit.
“We have a number of great ice cream shops in the Mid-Michigan area, but this is something different than I think anyone has ever seen before. We see people taking Facebook and Instagram shots in front of it, just for the look of the trolley. It’s been a lot of fun. People love it,” Spencer said.
Original Article by Marc Jacobson for abc12.com
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