Sweet Ice 2014!

Hey guys! As you may have read in our last post, Sweet Ice has some exciting changes coming this year. The biggest change is that we're moving away from street service and festivals, and spending more time in the world of weddings. We've loved our time at Art Crawl, Supercrawl, and so many other amazing local festivals. We are so thankful for all the times you've lined up at our booth, and enjoyed our snow cones - thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Getting ready for Art Crawl!

Over the years, however, we've become more and more excited about the thing that has always set Sweet Ice apart - our all-natural, made from scratch syrup. Our syrup is something we create very slowly, in small batches, with a lot of care, and we love to be able to chat with people about the syrup, the fresh ingredients, and 'slow food' in general. The fast pace of festivals just doesn't allow for that. We've come to find that the creativity and relaxed vibe at weddings really works for Sweet Ice. What that means, however, is you won't be able to find us in public very much this year, except for a few occasions! (read on...)

Supercrawl was always the BEST. Hamilton's Christmas!

We always had our cooler, if we wanted to take a little break. :)

There are three important things that you, our beloved snow cone fans, need to know:

1) Feel free to let your friends know about snow cones at weddings. It's just the cutest idea, and so refreshing, delicious, and unique. Without street service, we'll need our pals to help us get the word out there, so we appreciate you sharing the love! If anyone you know is interested in booking, they can email 'info@sweeticesnowcones.ca' for more info and prices.

2) There's an announcement! Sweet Ice Soda is back!

We want people to continue enjoying our syrups, and they are amazing as Italian sodas! So, beginning this weekend and next, we're rolling our syrups into a few of our favourite Hamilton coffee shops. We started this last summer, and are eternally grateful to the Cannon for giving us a cozy home to work out all of our kinks! This summer, we're expanding, and will be in four local shops! Spanning from east to west, you'll be able to enjoy Sweet Ice Soda at The Cannon, Cafe Oranje, Cake & Loaf, and Detour.

Check them out here:

The Cannon

(beginning this Friday, for Sew Hungry)

179 Ottawa St N, Hamilton

Cafe Oranje

(beginning this Saturday)

312 King St E, Hamilton

Cake & Loaf

(beginning next week; stay tuned for an announcement on Facebook or Twitter)

321 Dundurn St S, Hamilton

Detour

(beginning this Saturday) 

41 King St W, Dundas

3) We'll be having pop-up shops throughout the summer at these locations, so people can still enjoy a Sweet Ice snow cone! Keep your eyes on our Facebook and Twitter pages, to get announcements on where we'll be set up. There won't be much notice - basically we'll just see if it's hot enough for a snow cone, announce the location, and then show up to sell our cute treats!

Looking forward to another season of Sweet Ice, where things are always exciting and new. Thanks for following along!

(photos via Oak & Myrrh Photography, @iamjohnston, Cafe Oranje, and Jesse Senko)

Because Water Is Blue...

So, we're a snow cone business. Everyone who comes to our stand and orders from us knows we are a snow cone business. BUT, there is something that gets lost in translation every once in a while, and that is the fact that we make all our syrups from scratch, with fruit that is as local and organic as possible.

Really, that's the thing that makes Sweet Ice unique! Most people have had a snow cone or two in their time, but chances are, you've gotten it from a carnival vendor who pumps it out of a plastic jug he ordered on the internet. One of our favorite examples of Sweet Ice being misunderstood is when we ask a customer which flavor they'd like, and they say:

Friendly Customer, we don't hold this against you. We are products of our culture! We are slaves to mass-produced, artificial, corn-syrup ridden alternatives! But we're going to clear this up, once and for all. "Blue" is a color, not a flavor. Blue is not in season right now. Blue, my friends, should not be consumed.

Until now.

This weekend is Tall Ships Festival at the Hamilton Waterfront. The Tall Ships Festival is super cool  - the fleet of 1812 ships arrive at Pier 8 tomorrow, and the weekend is filled with nautical, old-timey activities, events and music...

It's going to be a very fun weekend, and we thought it deserved its own commemorative flavor! So...ships sail...they sail on water...water is blue...how about a blue flavor! It's what The People want!

So, here it is, our all-natural BLUE snow cone!

We'll be offering this 'Blueberry Lemonade' beauty along with a bunch of other delicious, all-natural flavors all weekend at Pier 8 (near Sarcoa). Snow cones are $3, and will be available Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from noon until about 10pm.

You can check out info about the Tall Ships craft fair here, and the music schedule here. Also, more info about the actual TALL SHIPS is here - that is the main event, afterall! This ship is the Sørlandet, it comes all the way from Norway, and it's the oldest full-rigged ship in the world that is still in operation!

This ship, along with the others, will be arriving under the Burlington Skyway Bridge, and pulling into Hamilton Harbour around 2pm on Friday, and there will be a cannon firing ceremony. It's called the Parade of Sails - FUN! Hope to see you there, mates!

Back in the Swing of Things!

The warm weather is here, and Sweet Ice is back at the Art Crawl! We weren't sure if we were going to make it back, as our regular spot at the Tivoli is no longer an option, but we found a cute little home on the Mulberry patio! We'll be there during July and August Art Crawl as well, so make sure you stop by. :)

We made sure to savor the Art Crawl over the Fall and Winter, because now that it's snow cone season, we don't get to see too much! I think this month's crawl was one of the busiest and most jam-packed that I've ever seen it. On every corner and in every store front, there was something magical happening! Very cool, Hamilton.

Our bud CJ was SO ready for a snow cone.

Emma had never had a Sweet Ice snow cone and was very excited.

Our new home!

We did make sure to get away from our booth to stop by and see our friends, Joel and the Jukes, playing at the Lister Block. If you're ever looking for an amazing wedding/party band, these guys are so good.

We also popped out to make some special deliveries to some of our friends along the street. Hey Hollie and Jane, HERE ARE SOME SNOW CONES FOR YOU.

All in all, it was a delightful night! Thanks for being so great, Hamilton.

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!

July Art Crawl + The Cutest Wedding Ever

Hello dear friends!

Sweet Ice had a whirlwind of a weekend! I (Meg) was on bridesmaid duty, which meant it was our first event without both of us slinging cones! Kind of bittersweet - bitter because I missed out on the snow cone fun, but sweet because I did get to enjoy Sweet Ice as a customer and we got to welcome some new faces behind the stand. Anne and Jaimi rocked it!

We participated in a campaign with Kitesting and Core Urban lofts - if you tweeted something that you loved about the core you'd get a free snow cone! There was a live #iheartthecore Twitter feed set up at the Lister Block, and it was so great to see all the uplifting responses that came in about why people love this city! Read all about it at iheartthecore.com.

CBC Hamilton is so nice - we just love 'em! They allow us to plug in at their building (thank you!), they played our new commercial on loop during the crawl (thanks again!) and they had a super cute photo booth set up. Look at those adorable snow cone fans!

I got to stop in at Sweet Ice on my way to the rehearsal dinner and when I walked up I was surprised to see...ACROBATS. Yes, acrobats. This is Hamilton's art crawl, which is consistently amazing and interesting, so I shouldn't really be so surprised, but it was a little unexpected! Kevin and I indulged in some Apple Cider and Raspberry Green Tea snow cones, respectively, and I had a great time checking out the art crawl!

A highlight: Cameron Elder doing his thing in the Needlework window and stopping by the booth with his new buttons and adorable hair model, Sharon.

Another highlight: Stopping in at the Blush mobile shop! Michele has turned this vintage caravan into a super cute pink shop and she came from Guelph to enjoy the art crawl! As always, it was lovely to run into the Beaux Mondes ladies here as well!

Then we moved on to another amazing event! My sister-in-law got married on Saturday and we were so honored that they requested Sweet Ice to be a part of their big day. Karyn and Nic are the cutest couple to walk this planet, and their wedding was just SO BEAUTIFUL!

What a great day - we're so excited that we have a few more snow cone weddings to look forward to this season!

(Art Crawl Photo Cred: #2 (@taylorshadney) #3 (@margaretlintott) #5 (CBC Hamilton) #7 (@helensavestheday), #9 (@michaelpett), all others from Sweet Ice Snow Cones)

#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.