Between 1:30 and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, my kids know that after lunch, after I put the baby down for a nap, they better play outside or they’ll miss their favorite yellow truck.
Terri, our ice cream lady, rarely misses a weekend and our kids rarely miss an opportunity to load up on Jolly Rancher sorbet and ice cream sandwiches. The proceeds from lemonade stands always make their way into the ice cream truck fund and it’s a rare moment I have to go dig between couch cushions for ice cream money. Kids know what’s important.
Terri Evett of Lewiston does, too, which is why she’s the best ice cream lady ever. She starts Monday in the Lewiston Orchards and by Saturday and Sunday she’s in downtown Clarkston. She doesn’t do it because she has nothing to do. Oh, no. Terri works full time at Lewiston Sprinkler, so the fact she hits so many neighborhoods each week is amazing. She does it because she loves the kids.
Which is her favorite neighborhood (I had to ask)?
“All of them. Really. Each day I’m excited to go to that neighborhood [on that day’s route],” she said.
Married to Mark and mother of four, Terri started selling ice cream in 1996 with friends who needed the extra help. In 2000, she bought her signature yellow truck from those friends and she’s been making kids extremely happy ever since.
FUN FACTS:
- Evett goes out every single day in the summer.
- The most popular kids’ ice cream bar is Spongebob Squarepants.
- The most popular adult ice cream bar is Snickers in Lewiston and Banana Fudge in Clarkston. Clarkston, let’s get it together.
- Oddly, the cooler the weather, the more ice cream she sells.
- Her company name “Tink Ink” is a family joke. She has several siblings and it’s a competition to do nice things, “tinks,” for her parents. She crowned herself queen of tinks and has the ice cream truck to prove it.
- She plays “The Yellow Rose of Texas” (complete with a horse’s neigh) because it’s the only one she could stand listening to on repeat. It became her truck’s signature song so she couldn’t change it now if she wanted to.
- She’s the only ice cream lady in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley and I’ve been told that she will contact her small clients’ parents if she knows she’ll be out for the week.
Prasil is a Clarkston mom of six. She survives on stale goldfish crackers, spontaneous adventures, happy hour and Bravo programming. She can be reached via email at ruthieprasil@gmail.com
