Molly Moo's Ice Cream Truck

The Inspiration: Molly Moo’s Ice Cream Truck

Editor’s note: Molly Moo’s Ice Cream Truck is a new addition to our Farm Stand line up. We can’t wait to have her back. The Kendall-Jackson Farm Stand is the first Saturday of the month through October.

Most good ideas are simple ones and come from unexpected places. The idea to start an ice cream truck came to me in a dream.

It had been a season of so much change and loss. I lost my best friend, Aliza, to Leukemia; I was going through a divorce, and I was at a career crossroads.  To put it mildly, there was an absence of joy in my life. I was at a pretty low point, with no clear direction in mind, when I had a dream about the ice cream truck from my youth.

The ice cream man and his truck is one of my favorite memories from growing up in Detroit in the 60’s. The truck could be seen and heard, roving through the neighborhood, showing up at the playgrounds or on our busy block.

We played outside, all day long, coming back for lunch and then back to play again until the streetlights came on. We rode our bikes everywhere, and had the freedom to be independent from our parents.  Sometimes, we could even buy our own ice cream bar.

In my dream, I became the new owner of the ice cream truck. I would be the one to pass out ice cream.  I didn’t ask questions — this was a dream, after all — and the magic of summertime, pure and simple, promised long, lazy days.

The next morning, I woke up and started working at a café in Petaluma. The conversations around me were about social media and technology, and I reflected on my dream. That’s when I started looking for the perfect ice cream truck; my mind was made up.

After several months of searching, I found my truck in Las Vegas. I named it Molly Moo’s Ice Cream, because “Molly Moo” was a childhood nickname I got from two little neighborhood brothers when I was 6.

I wanted to share this child-like exuberance I had in the dream, by driving my own truck and selling ice cream!  It seems to be working. In fact, I’ve started collecting favorite moments, like when a little girl, about 4 with ponytails, waved furiously at the truck and yelled out “Hellooo Ice Cream Lady!”

Another favorite memory was when I was at private party for some sophisticated looking people. At one point a middle-aged man approached the truck, set down his glass of Cabernet, and, with a kid-like smile asked, “do you REALLY have root beer floats?”

It’s fun being the Ice Cream Lady, and I can’t wait to see you around town.