It's Been A Good Year (Oh, And We're Having A Contest!)

Tomorrow is a big day for us.

The August Art Crawl marks one year of snow cone business for Sweet Ice, and we're feeling pretty nostalgic about it. Only a year ago, we were packing up for the crawl, making sure to focus on all the "important" details (matching shoes?!). We headed to the Art Crawl, so proud of our ten (ten!) bottles of syrup, saying things like "Do you think we'll sell any?" and "What if we sell NONE!?". To our amazement, we sold out very quickly, and a year later we now know better than to make just ten bottles.

Matching shoes!

It's been such a good year for us. We've been welcomed into the small business culture of Hamilton with open arms. We've had the honor of spending time with the most amazing business owners, and have learned so much from them. We have gotten a taste of the food truck world, and have watched in amazement as some incredible people led the way for a mobile food revolution in this city. Hamilton is full of talent and inspiration, and we're so glad we get to play a small role in that.

One year ago!

I think if we could describe our experience with Sweet Ice so far in a few words, they'd be 'fun' and 'humbling'. Owning a business is fun! Who knew?! We get to develop our own flavors, and it's part of our job to spend time picking fresh Ontario fruit. We get to spend time brainstorming with some of the most creative people we know, and call it a “business meeting”. We’ve learned to screenprint, we’ve played ‘postman’, we got to experience the intensely fun process of making a COMMERCIAL, and best of all, we get to chat with all our customers every time we set up shop. That’s the most fun part – all of you! You’re so damn nice! And humbling - we say it all the time, but we are so overwhelmed by the support and all the smiles in this city. Thank you, thank you, thank you. #HamOnt is a friggin peach - and you know it.

We were all smiles!

So tomorrow, one year after our nervous debut, we'll set up in the same spot, and we'll have the same talented lady busking beside us. And hey, we're so excited about our little first birthday that we thought we'd have a contest about it! Starting today at noon, we're going to have a contest where you can be entered to win one of three commercial prize packs!

All you have to do is:
1) Share our commercial (here's the link, or you can share directly from Facebook or Twitter)
2) Tag Sweet Ice (either on Facebook, or on Twitter)
3) Let people know that we'll be set up at the Art Crawl tomorrow night on the Tivoli lot beside the CBC

The prize packs have a retail value of $100, and they feature all the people who played a leading role in our commercial:

A CD FROM KORI POP!

A FABRIC PACK FROM NEEDLEWORK!

A COMBO FROM WEENIES!

(Includes sausage, chips and all-natural soda! Can be redeemed at any time.)

AND A HAIRCUT FROM

THE AMAZING CAMERON ELDER!

(Must be redeemed by the end of November.)

That is a very good prize! And it all comes wrapped up in a Sweet Ice tote bag with two free snow cones! You can enter today and tomorrow (two entries per person), and you must be able to pick the prize pack up at Art Crawl (or have someone get it on your behalf). The contest will end at 5pm tomorrow, and we'll draw the three winners and announce them at 6 o'clock, just before the crawl!

Post away, friends! And we'll see you tomorrow night!

#sweeticevid - it's done!

Our commercial is done and it's so cute!
Thanks to everyone who played a part in making this adorable dream of ours come true!


Find out more about who was involved in our 'Thank You' post, or in the Youtube description.

Boom, Commercial! THANK YOU!

After weeks of prepping, planning, inviting, crafting and lots of hype, we filmed the Sweet Ice commercial on Saturday and it was SO MUCH FUN! It was a dream come true for us, and we were so incredibly humbled by how many people came out. When this commercial was just a twinkle in our eye, we could not have anticipated how smoothly this day would go. We chatted over many lattes and laughed about how cute it would be to have a ‘snow cone mob’ rush through to the trailer, and when that moment was filmed, we were speechless! It was overwhelming to see so many happy faces, a bunch of whom we had never even met (with balloons, felt fruits and flags), there to show their support and be a part of something fun in the city! Wow! We love you Hamilton!

There's really no way to accurately express this sentiment, but THANK YOU so much to everyone who was a part of this project. We really can't express how much it means to us that you were there.

There are a few people we specifically want to say thank you to, and also some information we want to provide since a lot of people asked questions about these things.

Thank you to Kori Pop, the star of our commercial, who is probably the most sweet and kind person, and beyond talented. You can buy her stuff here - it's really amazing, and follow along with her on Facebook and Twitter. 

Thank you to the one and only Brooks Reynolds, who planned and filmed the whole thing, and his talented assistant Jesse Hunt. You guys were brilliant, and you looked adorable in your snow cone tanks.

This commercial would have not sounded the way it did, without the amazing Jeff Wynands of Other Songs Music Co. He wrote and recorded the amazing jingle that will be stuck in your head all summer. (Yay, it really works!)

Thank you to Kate and Liz, from Needlework, who played a leading role (and to Kate's pup, Peggy, too!). Follow along with their adorable fabric shop on Facebook and Twitter.

Thank you to Cameron Elder (of McKinnon Hair Design) and his beautiful mime-models, Pavielyn and Nina, who all played a big role in the commercial. You guys looked AWESOME! (Oh, and to Cameron's son Samuel who is the cute little blonde guy you'll see at the end!)

Thank you to Jared and Michelle, from Weenies, who also played a leading role and also served up amazing sausages at the end of the night. You can follow their hot dog cart on Facebook and Twitter!

A big 'thank you to the moon!' to all the amazing kids (and their parents!) who showed up early and did such a great job! While planning, we knew we needed a ‘gaggle of children’ and by golly we got QUITE the gaggle! You guys were naturals, and we're so glad you got to be a part of our commercial!

Special thanks to Erin (of Cake + Loaf fame) and Ceilidh for your makeup skills, and to Kevin Makins for your amazing energy, your herding skills and your super loud voice! Also, a huge thank you to Jon (trailer renovator extraordinaire) for understanding our time crunch and creating a temporarily adorable face for the trailer! There are a million other people we could thank, so please know that if you were involved in this commercial, some how, some way, we are SO super thankful for your efforts!

Lastly, a lot of people wondered how they could get their hands on some Sweet Ice memorabilia. We have tee's, tanks and totes which you can order online! Here's the link!

The commercial should be ready in just a few weeks, so hang tight! And THANKS AGAIN!

Commercial Time! Commercial Time!

The countdown is on! Our commercial is this Saturday! We've got about 100 people signed up to attend, and we're still looking for more, so as you make your plans for the weekend, please ask your friends, and see if there is anyone you know that would want to be part of a very fun little project!

Here's the plan: grab all your friends and meet at Hill Street Park (in Hamilton, just off Dundurn) at 7:20 pm on Saturday. There will be some Sweet Ice reps there to greet you with a smile, give you the low-down and get everything prepped. All of you snow cone fanatics will get into formation, and will basically be bursting around a corner together in a big mass of excitement to create a super-happy Sweet Ice parade. At the end of the procession, you'll end up at our vintage camping trailer for snow-cone-glow-stick mingling, and we'll wrap the whole thing up within a few hours. All you need to worry about is showing up, bringing a cheery snow cone attitude (not sure what that entails besides lots of laughs!), and wearing a cute outfit. We've put together some inspiration outfits for you - just think plain but fun with summery colours. Here, take a look:

Things to specifically note: modest, family friendly attire; no logos, text or symbols on clothing (unless it's Sweet Ice memorabilia); no distracting colors (ie. neon). We will have fun props, but if you're looking to bring something we'd love it if you brought fruit! Tote along a pineapple! Juggle some lemons! Balance an apple on your head! Sweet Ice loves fruit, and we welcome it with open arms. We hope our instructions here make it clear enough, but still leave this open enough for you to find something to wear that you feel really comfortable in! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email us, and we'd be happy to answer! We'll see you at 7:20 on Saturday evening! And again, if you know anyone else that would like to join, send them the link and have them click 'Join', or just bring 'em along!

*IMPORTANT: Sunday is the rain date, so if we need to postpone, we'll let you know via Facebook and Twitter, and everything will be moved to Sunday at 7:20 pm. But don't worry, it's just...not going to rain.

Memorabilia!

Did you hear? Did you hear? Sweet Ice has memorabilia now! We worked with our friends at Flyprint and The Print Studio to develop some super cute tanks, tee's and totes, and they're for sale now!

We've had lots of comments and questions about how people can get their hands on this stuff, so we've tried to make it pretty simple for you: the tanks and tee's are $20, and the totes are $15. You can order from our online shop (here!) and if you have any questions, just send us an email and we'll sort it all out. :) Look how CUTE everything is!

So, there are tanks with snow cones - these guys are loose-fitting and very comfortable. Basically, you'll want to live in this thing all summer. Adorned with our adorable snow cone, this American Apparel tank is available in black, grey and white. Ladies, it'd look especially cute with a colorful bandeau under it or even over your bathing suit! The snow cone is so super summery, making this tank perfect for the hot weather these days. Keep in mind - unisex sizing!

There are also tanks with logos. American Apparel, available in black, grey (not pictured) and white, unisex sizing:

Tee's with logos! This super comfy tee is great on it's own, or under a sweet denim jacket or hoodie. We think it'd look great on you! Also American Apparel, and available in black and grey in unisex sizing.

Oh, and totes! Who could forget? Well, we did, so we didn't get any pictures of them, so here is our adorable friend Meag "toting" hers proudly. You can get it in yellow, teal (pictured) or fuchsia. Now that I'm looking at this, I'm pretty sure the arrow wasn't necessary, but hey, we said we were trying to make this simple.

So there you have it! Order away, to your hearts content, and if you're caught wearing your Sweet Ice memorabilia, get a picture and post it to our Facebook or Twitter, cuz we wanna see how cute you look!

Also, a quick reminder about the Sweet Ice commercial, which is coming up SO SOON! Not this Saturday, but next - June 23rd. All the info is on the Facebook event, but just so you know, we'll be meeting at Hill Street Park at 7:20pm. Early next week we'll be posting outfit inspirations for you, but think 'plain, colorful, summery, classic'...if that helps. We need as many people as we can possible get, so we really hope you can make it, and please please invite your friends, and have them click 'join' on the Facebook event. Our commercial director, Brooks Reynolds, has said that more people = better commercial, and we want it to be the very best!

So much on the go!

There is so much happening with Sweet Ice these days - we're going to try and lay it all out for you. Here goes!

First off, do you want a snow cone? You're probably wondering where to find us!

This Friday we'll be at the James Street North Art Crawl, set up on the Tivoli Theatre lot (next to the CBC building). We were there last summer, and it was so fun to be on a little grassy knoll, right in the heart of the crawl.

We'll be serving snow cones there from 7-10, and we've got 5 amazing flavors that we're sure you'll love, including a new flavor - our Raspberry Green Tea snow cone made with an amazing loose leaf Pear Green Tea from Detour Cafe! AND because this is our first Art Crawl of the year, and because we love the ladies over at While Elephant, we've got a super special promotion happening:

So make sure you stop by their shop at 133 James St N - we're pretty confident you'll see something that you love, and then get a free snow cone out of the deal at the same time!

Then, after the Art Crawl, starting at about 10:30, we'll be set up at the Baltimore House serving SPIKED snow cones! Our after-parties have been quite the hit this year, so make sure you get there early as the place usually fills up pretty quickly. Fun, fun, fun! And yes, Ke$ha is a musical genre now.

Just two more things: last week we announced that we're filming a commercial! In order to do so, we need a bunch of props: fruit heads, pinwheels, banners, you know - really happy things! So...we're going to bake some cookies, pull out our safety scissors and meet up to fashion some adorable fruity crafts. We know there are lots of you crafty types out there in Hamilton, so we thought we'd open up the invitation and see who wants to come. We now present:

It's on Monday (a week from today, on June 11th), starting at 7pm. Hope you can come! It should be fun and cozy - because Needlework is always fun and cozy.

OKAY, last thing: just a few photos from our super fun weekend at the Dundas Buskerfest. We were rained out on Friday night, but we had a great time on Saturday and Sunday, and served snow cones to lots of beautiful, friendly people! Also, Dundas is officially the place to go to see THE CUTEST children and dogs - they were anywhere and everywhere you looked!

(Photo Cred: #2 (@katgracepi), #9 (@ashlyn0), #11 (@mikaelson86), all others from Sweet Ice Snow Cones)

(And thanks to Mike Jerome for that adorable elephant + snow cone graphic. That guy is pure talent!)

Those are all of our updates for now! We hope to see you at the Art Crawl this Friday!

Casting Call!

Sweet Ice is filming a commercial! And we want you to be in it!

This is our official casting call: young and old, tall or short, quiet or loud - no experience necessary! We're going to make a short commercial that is basically just chock-full of happiness and reflects how much we love snow cones, this city, and all the people who make it up. Our ridiculously talented friend Brooks Reynolds is filming it, with a song produced by the wonderful Mr. Jeff Wynands, and starring the always delightful Kori Pop - we're sure the day will be full of laughs and just lots of fun all around. All you need to do is find the right outfit (we'll post some inspiration), show up with a smile, and we'll show you what to do!

We're filming on Saturday, June 23rd (with Sunday the 24th as a rain date), so if you're around that weekend, we'd LOVE to have you! Brooks has officially said "more people = better commercial", so we're hoping y'all want in! Exact times and locations are still to be determined, but it'll be sometime in the afternoon. Please click 'join' on the Facebook event (here) if you wanna be a part of this.  Here are some things you can expect:

1. Meet lots of happy people and make new friends.

2. Get an annoying amazing Sweet Ice jingle stuck in your head.

3. Our vintage trailer - in all it's renovated goodness!

4. Fruit heads. YOU CAN BE A FRUIT.

5. The releasing of doves (this is our #1 priority), confetti cannons and just pure ridiculousness...

Yippee! We're so excited!!!