We’ll All Scream for a Wilton Ice Cream Truck

Three Wilton High School graduates are pretty sure they know what Wilton children want this summer, and they’re betting it involves vanilla and chocolate served at very cold temperatures.

Lindsay Wheeler, Steph Fricke and Taylor Toll are three friends from the WHS class of 2010 who have cooked up a summer job idea that has found them simultaneously creating a business, and doing something to give back. They hope the proceeds from a summer spent selling ice cream from the truck they bought for their business, College Creamery, will help them each pay for some of their college expenses and also help other Wilton students with the same effort through scholarship donations.

“We were all really surprised at the cost of school, and all of the expenses that go into it, like the books and the food and everything,” says Lindsay. “We all wanted to at least contribute to cover some of our own expenses, and it’s inspiring to know that we can contribute to that for someone else as well."

What was also surprising was the effort it has taken to get their idea off the ground.

“Finding a wholesaler alone just to buy the ice cream has been a huge process; we’ve had to contact like 15 people about just that. And then you also have to get a permit for selling, a permit for the truck, which needs to be specific to the town. And there has been so much work we’ve had to put into it—restoring the truck has taken a lot of time,” Lindsay recounts.

The girls found a 1977 Chevy ice cream truck for sale on Craigslist, and their find also came with a bit of unintended karma. “It was [being sold by] a guy from Pennsylvania who had started an ice cream business when he was a freshman in college too, so luckily finding him was very, very helpful. He was able to help us make choices on product and things like that,” Lindsay says.

The three girls say they plan on selling ice cream from the truck around Wilton this summer with regular stops at Little League and soccer games, at camps around town and during other town events. They’ll also be available for private parties.

“We’re going to try to have a time when we go to certain places so people will know where we’re going to be. People can also follow us on twitter—we’ll tweet where we’re going to be, and put the schedule up on facebook,” Lindsay says.

The charity idea isn’t completely firmed up yet, although the girls say that if their initial idea to donate to a scholarship through the high school doesn’t work out, they’ll be donating a portion of the summer’s proceeds to the Wilton Education Foundation. Either way, making sure they give something back is definitely part of the plan.

Lindsay says College Creamery will officially launch this weekend at the annual Relay for Life fundraiser.

“We made a team and decided that our usual percentage that would have gone to a scholarship will instead, for that one night of Relay, go to the American Cancer Society, and we just thought that it would be a great first night to start the business. We thought it was a great chance for everyone to see the truck. It all came together well.”