By Janelle Fisher
City Pages Editor
There’s a new source for sweet treats on the street — The Cool Bus, owned and operated by Pulaski’s Jenny Hanson.
While Hanson knew she wanted to do something ice cream-related, she said the smiles an ice cream truck brings to people of all ages are what pushed her to take her business to the road.
“It’s something that brings joy to not only the children, but it also brings a lot of joy to the older crowd,” she said. “Not everybody gets to see an ice cream truck anymore. I live in Pulaski, so nothing is out there. We were going to open an ice cream shop and we were like, ‘Well, why don’t we just drive it around?’ And then we found a bus and made it into an ice cream truck.”
Since making that decision, Hanson said the experience of owning and operating an ice cream truck has exceeded her expectations — and brought up fond memories of the past.
“It’s actually more exciting than I thought it was going to be, just because I get to see the joy of all the kids running through their yards and stuff,” she said. “It brings back a lot of memories from when I was a kid. I actually grew up in Allouez and Thibbys was always the ice cream truck that came by. I wanted to be that person that got to bring joy to our small town.”
Not only does Hanson get to bring joy to others, but she said being able to run The Cool Bus with her kids brings her joy as well.
“I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for like eight years,” she said. “So to be able to do something with our kids, like our boys usually run the bus, they’re 17 and 13, and then the little one, she’s my sticker queen, they get to help out a lot and get to build skills, it’s fun… We used to play store at home, and now it’s like a little mobile store that they’re running.”
Only a couple months into ice cream truck ownership, Hanson said business has been good and some fan favorites have already emerged from the selection of sweet treats The Cool Bus has to offer.
“Honestly, I love the Snickers and the Twix,” she said. “Those are my top, but SpongeBob, he’s the man on the bus.”
Keep up with Hanson and find out where the ice cream truck will be stopping by following The Cool Bus on Facebook.