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)

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!

Happy Valentine's Day!

If you saw last week's post, you'll know that we silk-screened some t-shirts at The Print Studio. We made these as gifts for some of our favorite business partners in Hamilton - here are a few more photos from our time at the studio, since we didn't do the big reveal last week.

Again, we had such a great time at The Print Studio, and highly recommend taking a workshop there. It was so fun and a really wonderful learning experience and now that we have memberships, we can go back and screen-print any time we want to!

Okay, so here we go with our Valentine's deliveries! Gahh, so much fun!

Stop #1: Cake + Loaf! (The best bakery in town...in our opinion). They are so sweet - they knew we were coming and had amazing Valentine's cookies waiting for us. YUM! Cake & Loaf is such a nice place to stop in - you're always greeted with a big smile and an amazing selection of goodies to choose from.

Stop #2: Needlework! This stop was so fun and giddy. Kate and Liz squealed and immediately tried on their shirts. We had a hilarious argument: "You're the cutest business partners" "No, you're the cutest business partners!". It was also the day of their grand opening (which happened during the Art Crawl and was a huge success), so there was so much excitement in the air! Congrats on such an amazing endeavor, Kate and Liz!

Stop #3: The Cannon! This is our favorite coffee shop in the city, but I suppose we're a bit biased. But REALLY - it's so great. Anne and Cindy are dear friends of ours, and have recently opened Cannon Coffee Co., where they serve amazing coffee and bake up absolutely delicious treats. There's a great fresh-but-cozy atmosphere and you'll always be swept off your feet with Anne and Cindy's pleasant smiles and conversation. Go there, k? 

Stop #4: Kitestring! Well, this was fun! There was just so much screaming and laughing and of course we got to partake in the Kitestring-stash-o-candy. You can tell that Chris and Jenn have a lot of fun together but there's also a really deep friendship and mutual respect that is really evident, and that's so great to see. What nice business partners!

Stop #5: White Elephant! If you know Hollie and Jane, or if you've ever been to White Elephant, you'll know that these girls are a power couple (in the business sense of the word)...there's nothing they can't tackle! Their store is gorgeous, their banter is hilarious and they're just delightful people in general! We stopped in here during art crawl, and as usual, the shop was just packed (with people and amazing merchandise!) Yay!

Stop #6: Detour! Unfortunately we couldn't catch Kaelin, but we did stop in and see Crystal. This husband-wife duo and their wonderful coffee shop is a reason to visit Dundas in itself...what began as an amazing direct-trade roastery has turned into an incredible cafe, and it's been amazing to see these two work together towards their dreams. Also, they are our source for the beans we use for our Sweet Espresso syrup!

Stop #7: Our final stop! We met with Chris and Amy - future owners of what will surely be an amazing coffee shop in the core (#cafeoranje). While their doors aren't open for business yet, you can already see that these two are an amazing match when it comes to working out your dreams and running a business together. It was such a joy to sit down for coffee with them and hear about their process so far, and we can't wait to support them on this amazing whirlwind adventure!

We had an amazing time delivering our Valentine's Day gifts! It's such a honor to know all of these people and to gain from their knowledge and experience. During this process we've realized that this is only be 'Round One' of handing out these shirts, because there are just so many other talented and inspiring (and cute!) business partners in Hamilton. It's just thrilling to be part of a city with so much talent and with such excitement in the air! It was also nice to catch up and share a bit about what we have in store for Sweet Ice - which you'll be hearing about soon! Lots on the horizon for these business partners!

(See 'Part 1' of our silk-screening adventure here and little video from our workshop here!)