#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.

Heads Up, Feelin' Inspired.

Oh, hi!

It's July! (WHAT?!) Prime snow cone season! You may be wondering (or you maybe haven’t been wondering) where we’re setting up lately. Well friends, things are a bit slow moving with Sweet Ice these days. We do have a bunch of great snow cone events booked for the next few weeks, but they are mostly private as we work towards getting our trailer renovated and getting licensed by the City of Hamilton. It's a bit of a trudge these days, but with so many amazing new things happening around us, it's easy to keep our spirits up and march on. We'll get there! The trailer will SOMEDAY be renovated, and then there will be snow cones for all! We promise.

A few things that have kept us inspired lately?

We visited Manual Labour Coffee, which is a mobile espresso shop that runs out of a (get this) VINTAGE TRAILER. The trailer is named Frankie, and the operators of this brilliant little scheme are Matt and Katie, who are just the sweetest (Not sure if you kept up with our tweets or instagrams of this meet & greet, but we’re basically SMITTEN). They set up at the Oakville Farmers Market and serve amazing Detour products from their trailer. It’s magical.

 

We strongly suggest making the trip to Oakville to visit MLC, but we're also hoping they make their way to Hamilton soon! There is talk of setting up a vintage trailer meetup, so stay tuned for that. Oh man, that's the cutest idea ever. Cute-o-meter just broke.

Speaking of people being cute and us being inspired, a few weeks back we had a potluck with some of the most amazing people.This affectionately titled 'Lady Business Partner Potluck' (needs a new name!) was basically a night spent in the company of some of the most inspiring women we know. Needlework, White Elephant, The Cannon, Cake + Loaf, Beaux Mondes...the ladies behind these amazing initiatives were all in attendance, so you can imagine that the conversation was delightful and the food was divine. One of the highlights: going around the room and finding out how each duo came into existence. Another highlight: we had ice cream in tea cups. And all the pictures you see were taken by the one and only, Hollie Pocsai. :)

We’re going to be doing this regularly, so we can just hang out and dream together. SO nice.

So! That’s where we’re at these days. Still slinging cones, and planning to see all your lovely faces at the July Art Crawl. Send some happy trailer wishes this way, and we’ll keep you posted.

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.

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!!!

Decisions, decisions...

Last night we had the BEST meeting. We have lots of Sweet Ice meetings...usually at least one every week, especially with our season starting up again. But the meetings we look forward to the most are when we get to sit down with our graphic designer Julie. It's just so much fun to dedicate a few hours to being CREATIVE. She helps us think outside the box and step back from the ideas that have been swirling around between just the two of us.

With the trailer renovations beginning and our busy season approaching we met at Mulberry with lots to talk about...but most exciting was our hands-on discussion about trailer colors. Choosing the color of our Shasta is one of those decisions that we're so excited about but the most scared of - so much commitment to one color! We thought we'd test out our options and see how we felt...

So here are the colors we're choosing from. We took them from our logo and we love all of the options! 1 & 5 are a berry/plum color, 2 & 6 are mustard yellow, 3 & 7 are teal and 4 & 8 are a coral/orange color. We're also trying to decide between the two-toned look (1-4) or just the simple lightning bolt (5-8). So many decisions! We'd love to know what you think - let us know by leaving a comment (and the number of your pick) below or on Facebook or Twitter.

After we tried out our options we weren't done painting, so we just kept going. It got a little out of hand...

We were so proud of each other's paintings! It was fun to just sit and paint for fun - it felt like grade school again!

Thanks for checking out our blog, and again, we're really looking for feedback about this one, so throw us your two cents!

Dance Party This Friday!

Lots of exciting things happening over here at Sweet Ice!

First, we were featured in the Hamilton Spectator last week! Lisa Marr put together a lovely article that was in the Business section and focused on our Operation Shasta fundraiser. We had a great time talking with her about the campaign, and we went to Bennett's for a little Spectator photo shoot. Here are a few photos we took on our phones during our very short time at Bennett's. We were just so thrilled to enjoy our first snow cones of the season!

(You can read the Spectator article here!)

Next exciting item: We have our first event of the season this week! And you're invited! We're having an Art Crawl After Party at The Baltimore House on Friday. By that point we'll have about a week left of our fundraiser, so we're looking at this as a 'Success or Distress' party - we'll either be celebrating with you if we're close to raising our goal (SUCCESS!) or crying with you if we're not (DISTRESS!). It starts at 10pm, and there's no cover - all the more reason to indulge in some delicious snow cones! All proceeds from snow cone sales will go towards our trailer fundraiser, and we'll be pulling out some of our most popular spiked snow cones for this special event: The Apple Jack (Apple Cider Syrup + Jack Daniel's), The Daiquiri (Strawberry Lime Syrup + Rum) and the Margarita (Lime Syrup + Tequila)...YUM! Hope you (and everyone you know) can make it!

(RSVP to the event here!)

#operationshasta

We're so excited! Our fundraiser is up and running!

Since Sweet Ice was just a little dream that we chatted about over lattes, we've always thought that selling snow cones out of a vintage trailer would just be the cutest thing ever. Then, wonder of wonders, this amazing 1962 Shasta came our way, and we couldn't resist! Our goal is to renovate our adorable vintage camping trailer so we can serve snow cones out of it this season! We think this will make Hamilton a more fun and interesting city, and we're so excited to get started on our renovations. We need a little bit of help to get this project underway, so we've put together a fundraising campaign on indiegogo.com, to raise $4000. We just launched last week, and we're blown away by the generosity - we're already over halfway to meeting our goal!

If this is something you can get behind, please head over to our campaign page and watch our little video. Every bit helps, and there are really great prizes to go along with your donations, like t-shirts, and buttons, and private parties, and custom flavors, and limousine parties...no joke. We're so excited to start renovating, and we're SO thankful for all the contributions. It's amazing to see what can happen when we're supported by such an amazing community in Hamilton. Thank you again!

You can follow along with our progress on Facebook and Twitter! And be sure to come out to our snow cone party on Friday, April 13th - all proceeds from snow cone sales going towards Operation Shasta!