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Children's Delight - The Store's Ice Cream Parlour

During the 1920s, Roxie Hosking (Willie O's sister) and her husband Frederick, opened an ice cream parlour on the second floor of the store.

The ice cream came twice a week by train from Scotia Pure Milk in Halifax. From Harbour Station in Musquodoboit Harbour, the ice cream was taken by wagon the seven kilometres back to Oyster Pond. It came in steel containers that were packed in large wooden tubs filled with ice. It was kept in Willie O's ice house until serving time.

People from many neighbouring villages flocked to the store to sample the ice cream.

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W.M.O. Mitchell's store (Willie O's)
1922
Oyster Pond, Nova Scotia

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In this 2004 interview, Doris Hutt recalls the ice cream parlour:

"The ice cream parlour was upstairs. And this, the store was built into a hill, so you went up this little hill, and there was a few steps up to the entry to the ice cream part.

And I seem to recall that it had sort of chairs similar to what you see now that people buy, these little tea sets to put on their patios, with two chairs. Only I suppose they were metal, from what I can imagine. And so when the word went around that there was ice cream, everybody flocked. And he would be open evening on those times. I don't know whether he was open evenings all the time or not. He had a lady friend he used to go visit every Thursday night. And the store definitely wasn't open then. Ice cream nights it was. I think they just served it in old dishes. I don't think it was in cones, I imagine you had a spoon."

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Roxie and Frederick Hosking at home
1925
Oyster Pond, Nova Scotia

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Twice a week the ice cream parlour created a festive atmosphere, drawing people from villages as distant as Ship Harbour and Clam Harbour. They came on foot, by boat, horse, and the occasional car. At times they were lined up outside, waiting to get in.

In this 2004 interview, Mr. Mitchell describes his childhood memories of the ice cream parlour.

"They would only get their ice cream, maybe once a week. So it was open one night. Now Mrs. Hosking, Garth's mother, she used to run that. So we would go over there and have ice cream. And another that I can remember is that she had a phonograph with the great big speaker onto it. I can remember that. Other than that I don't remember too much more about it."

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Garth Hosking standing outside his uncle's store
1922
Oyster Pond, Nova Scotia

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The ice cream parlour was open on Wednesday and Saturday evenings through the 1920s. When he turned fifteen, Garth Hosking (Roxie and Frederick's son) began running the business himself. For three years (1927-1929) he operated the parlour during the summer months. A scoop of ice cream was five cents, a sundae was 25 cents, and a banana split was 40 cents.

In this 2004 interview, Reg Daye remembers well the ice cream parlour above the store:

"Now I can remember going down to the ice cream parlour. Oh right well. It could be a Saturday evening, or if it was fine. It was something else, and Mrs. Hosking was a very nice person. She was too nice to be in business. She'd give all the profit away. We went there for a five cent ice cream. Well, my oh my, you'd have a hard job to eat it, what you would get, you know? She wasn't making no money on it. Oh, she was a very well liked person."