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OSCEOLA — For longer than some of them have been alive, the sound of music has let area frozen treat fans know ice cream is coming.
Dana Brodsack of Osceola has operated Sack’s Ice Cream truck in southwest Iowa for 18 years.
But, the original idea wasn’t entirely intended for Iowa.
Beginning
Brodsack, who spends his winters in the Florida Keys, needed a way to pass time and “make a little extra cash” while in the sunshine state.
“You can only do so much swimming and fishing and snorkeling and so forth,” said Brodsack.
It was Brodsack’s father who came up with the idea for an ice cream truck. An idea Brodsack developed and took for an eventual test drive in Florida.
“My very first time I used it I sat there all day and I made 14 bucks,” Brodsack said. “I thought, oh no, this isn’t going to work. The next day I started just driving around. From there it just skyrocketed.”
These days Brodsack has at least one truck running seven days a week from around April or May until as late as November in southwest Iowa before heading to the Keys.
Routes
With the help of three employees, Brodsack’s two trucks cover between 400 and 500 miles a week while dispensing prepackaged Anderson Erickson ice cream products in 10- to 12-hour shifts each day.
The trucks cover routes in an area from Knoxville to Creston. On Fridays Sack’s Ice Cream truck can be found patrolling the streets of Murray, Thayer, Afton, Creston and Three Mile Lake. Three Mile Lake and the Sun Valley region are targeted every Saturday.
Brodsack said he chooses the products aboard his trucks by trial and error. Although you can find classics like the ice cream sandwich and crunch bar, the most popular item features SpongeBob SquarePants.
A retired Greyhound employee, Brodsack said the ice cream truck is a great way to pass time.
“I didn’t have anything to do,” he said. “This kind of takes up my time.”
Being a former bus driver helps Brodsack handle the driving, but the music is a different issue.
“You get used to it,” he said. “That music, seven days a week, it just plays over and over in your head, even when you’re not in the truck.”
Job perks
Despite the continual playback, the music is part of what makes owning the area’s only ice cream trucks a joy.
“It’s funny, the kids, right along with the grown ups, you will see them out there dancing … just excited to see the truck,” Brodsack said.
According to Brodsack, it’s taking the time to talk to the people that makes this job special.
“You meet a lot of people in all these different towns around here,” Brodsack said. “It’s fun. A good majority of the people are really nice. They enjoy the truck.”
Brodsack does his part to give back to his customers by donating products for local events and loaning out his truck for fundraisers.
As for business in southwest Iowa, Brodsack said the truck is just as popular as it is in Florida.
“I’m welcome in every town,” said Brodsack.