Handel on Ice Cream

July 10, 2016 at 12:09a.m.

vendor sponsors annual dollar cone day

Boardman

There was no way in the world Catherine Barany could hide what she’d done. One look at her was all it took to see that the proof was all over her face, her arms and hands, even her feet.

And then there was her confession.

Yep, she did it, all right. And she had no problem admitting it.

“I had Chocoholic Chunk,” the 8-year-old said with a wide smile as her mom, Paula, helped wash the melted ice cream off her daughter’s hands and face with water from a sports bottle.

The mother-daughter tandem was among the earliest customers Saturday at Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream & Yogurt on South Avenue. The occasion was Handel’s annual customer appreciation day, during which they offer single-scoop ice cream cones for $1.

Paula, 52, said she had been looking forward to Saturday since she found out about the special event when she and Catherine visited the store about two weeks ago.

“I took a picture of the sign [announcing customer appreciation day] and made a note in the calendar on my phone,” she said. “I wasn’t missing this.”

Like her daughter, Paula said she also had a Chocoholic Chunk cone, but it was only Round One. They planned to hit at least one other Handel’s location, and possibly two, later in the day.

“We just might go for a record,” Paula said. “Three cones in one day.”

And they knew what they wanted. Chocolate pecan for the second cone, and strawberry for the third, for Paula. Catherine had her sites set on cotton candy confetti and butter pecan.

The annual dollar-cone day is always a hit with customers, and store staff starts working ahead of time to get ready.

“It’s our biggest day of the year,” said Special Patterson, assistant manager of the Handel’s on Market Street in Youngstown, noting that employees generally have about three times the amount of ice cream on hand for Customer Appreciation Day as they do for a normal day.

Mike Turnbull, manager of the Handel’s on Clingan Road in Poland, said his staff has been stocking up on ice cream since the Fourth of July, in preparation for Saturday.

“We’re slammed,” Turnbull said of the turnout at his store. “The customers love it, but we’re really enjoying this too. It’s a blast.”

Turnbull and Patterson said chocolate pecan is always the most popular flavor at their stores, although Saturday’s sales were all over the menu.

At Handel’s on Mahoning Avenue in Austintown, Fitch High School students Zack Eckert, 15, Conor Murphy, 15, Marcellena Ceja, 15, and Jeni Kohn, 16, posed for a group selfie as they stood in line, waiting their turn to order.

Each, of course, had his or her favorite flavor in mind. For Zack, it was cotton candy. Conor wanted cookies & cream. Marcellena wanted Blue Moon, which wasn’t available, so she went with Chocoholic Chunk. And Jeni was going for cotton candy, even though she knew she’d pay for it later.

“I’m lactose intolerant,” she said. “I know this is going to hurt my stomach later, but I don’t care. It’s so good. I have to have some.”

Joe Wilson, 42, came to Austintown from Girard with his sons, 10-year-old Evan, and 8-year-old Bryan.

“It’s the best ice cream in the area,” Joe said, as he worked through a scoop of Chocoholic Chunk.

Evan and Bryan said their favorite flavor is Red Sky At Night, but it wasn’t available at the Austintown store Saturday, so they opted for mint chocolate chip and black raspberry.

Unlike some of the other customers, Wilson said he and his boys weren’t planning to visit other Handel’s in the area Saturday.

“We’re just one and done,” he said, laughing.

Richard Protiva, 64, of Boardman, said his favorite Handel’s flavors are grape and banana, but he opted to try a new flavor, Midnight Madness, when he visited the South Avenue store Saturday.

“It was delicious,” said Protiva, as he licked ice cream from his fingers.

Margaret Stewart, 51, of Boardman, sat in the sun outside the South Avenue store, trying to keep up with her scoop of strawberry ice cream before it melted. Her husband, Doug, 55, opted to take his mint chocolate chip cone to the shade.

“I just heard about this today on Facebook,” Margaret said. “We just decided we’d come.”