The Ice Cream Truck

It actually startled me.

The shrieks from a gaggle of schoolgirls racing with fierce alacrity toward a big white van.

And I couldn't believe my eyes, either.

Here it was, a dreary, cold mid-March Missouri day with historic floods bearing down on my neighbors.

What floats past us with its signature monophonic jingle?

The ice cream truck.

You don't expect to see the rusted bucket of ice-cold pleasure until after Memorial Day, but somehow this motivated ice cream man knew that the power of his presence would draw a crowd.

This in spite of the product inside.

Bomb Pops that separate from the wax paper with the consistency of wallpaper paste are certainly NOT Ben & Jerry's!

Radio stations used to have "ice cream trucks."

You might remember seeing your first radio station van -- because it was more than a simple van.

It was a rolling SWAG wagon stocked full of something free inside for you!

We stock our station vehicles with the equivalent of Bomb Pops - tchotckes that are one step up from a Cracker Jack prize.

Yet, there WAS a time when the masses swarmed the van to be awed by the spectacle inside -- and grab something FREE.

Now, most of us fleet a van resembling a storage closet.

Know that while radio faces lean times, auto dealers are in deeper waters -- looking to unload specialty vehicles.

Search for something unique in addition to your panel van.

Catch the eye ... the imagination ... and the crowd will follow.

Who knows, it might even BE an ice cream truck!