Actually, selling ice creams and assorted frozen treats to Alaskans isn't as hard as it might sound. Just ask Pete Ischi, the sprint car driver and focus of my feature in Saturday's The Lima News.Ischi has owned a Dairy Queen in Kenai, Alaska, for 23 years. In fact, it was the only DQ in the state for 15 years. Families took leisurely Sunday drives from Anchorage to his store for a DQ fix and to get pictures with the sign. Doesn't sound too bad, until you realize Anchorage is at least a 3 hour drive to Kenai.
Now, there a few other DQ's in Alaska. In fact, when the one in Anchorage opened, the wait to get inside was at least one hour. The DQ in Anchorage is the top-grossing store in the United States.
"When they opened, the line went all the way to the street," fellow Alaskan Tyler McDonald said. "You couldn't get in there."
Ischi has been in Lima for a few weeks and leaves for home Tuesday. He has combined the pleasure trip -- he is racing his sprint car at local tracks, including Limaland Motorsports Park and Waynesfield Motor Sports Park -- with business. He drove to Alabama to pick up equipment for the store.
The trip to Alabama, combined with the purchase of a trailer to bring home his sprint car and all DQ-related merchandise, is actually cheaper than shipping it to Alaska. Ischi was quoted around $15,000 to have someone else deliver the equipment.
Ischi's return won't be a moment too soon for the Ischi family left behind in Alaska, notably 19 year-old daughter Whitney.
"My family is making huge sacrifice for me to be here," Ischi said. "They're running (the store) while I'm down here being the play-kid. May is a big month for us. It kind of kicks everything off for us.
"The other day, I called (Whitney) and she said, 'Dad, it's time to come home. The money is going to stop flowing out there.' I said, 'Whitney, you sound like a wife, not my daughter.' She's taking a lot of the stress I deal with up there."
The Ischi family is Dairy Queen through and through. Whitney has been working in her dad's DQ for seven years. In fact, the DQ mark is noticable.
"When we were driving around town, my daughter was just learning her colors. We pulled up to a stop light, and she said, 'Dad, I understand what the green light means. That means go. And I know what the red light means. That means stop,'" Ischi said. "'But what does the butterscotch light mean?'
"That is a Dairy Queen kid."
4 comments:
We eat ice cream in winter, too, and find it as delicious as in summer, in fact, maybe better, as it doesn't melt as much... The natives in Alaska make ice cream from blueberries and snow.
Blueberries and snow, eh? That doesn't sound half-bad.
Hopefully no one from Alaska takes offense ... the popular perception in the lower 48 is of constant cold and snow in Alaska. Ya know, igloos and eskimoes (or inuit). Seems the least likely place for a Dairy Queen.
Me? Alaska is my dream vacation. Especially after talking to Pete and Tyler about the state.
Had to remove the last post ... while your opinion might be true, I really didn't want you trashing someone's business on my blog.
By the way, all of my thoughts have been moved to www.limaohio.com. Scroll down until you see my ugly mug.
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