Ladysmith’s newest ice cream shop was met with a warm welcome on their first day of business.

“It’s been fantastic,” owner Kate Cram said. “Especially seeing all the kids come down after school. It’s great to see the kids able to walk down here on their own, have an ice cream and hang out with their friends.”

Old Town Ice Cream opened its doors on June 18, 2021. The business, located at 539 1st Avenue, is an extension of the Wild Poppy Market and is the latest business venture for the Cram family, who also own Old Town Bakery.

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“We’ve been working on this since January. Our family did all the design and construction work we were doing it after work and on weekends,” Cram said.

Old Town Ice Cream sells Island Farms ice cream, homemade milkshakes, ice cream sandwiches, mud-pies and unique baked goods from Old Town Bakery that are only sold at the ice cream shop. They also offer a selection of dairy-free ice cream.

The usually quiet corner of 1st Avenue was lined with kids and their families all afternoon, including Ladysmith Primary School teacher Lesley Corghan who was enjoying some ice cream with her daughter Maeley.

“We’re going to need some more benches,” Corghan said. “Quite a few of my students came down today. Right after school, they came to check it out.”

Cram said she expects the corner of 1st Avenue and High Street will be much busier now and she hopes that it will draw more people in to visit other 1st Avenue businesses.

With the opening of Old Town Ice Cream, the Crams now employ 47 people across their businesses.

“We have the same number of employees as we had pre-COVID now,” Cram said. “It was really important to us to have that many people employed. We brought back a lot of our old staff and we’ve got some new additions as well. We’re really fortunate to have the people we do.”

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Old Town Ice Cream is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week.

Ladysmith Chronicle