The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck

The onset of summer brings out a lot of sights, smells, tastes and sounds – all three of which are well satisfied by an oncoming ice cream van. The NY Daily News wrote a special piece on the New York ice cream sellers and their vans, one of which happens to be a Spreadshirt partner.

The British climate can make this business quite unpredictable, but certainly come heatwave there are kids and adults alike moving in droves towards the sounds of a cool treat. I’ve certainly seen and tasted from uncountable ice cream vans in my lifetime, but none quite as unique as this one.

One of the hippest vans of the year, and the lead-in for the Daily News article, is the “Big Gay Ice Cream Truck” from Doug Quint, who tends to cover Union Square or East Village. Doug is pretty new to the ice cream van business, just getting his license this year. He runs the van together with his boyfriend and decided to get into the tough market after being jealous of a friend who had started her own route a year ago.

When he is not out on the streets of Manhattan selling his unique ice cream and toppings (cayenne pepper, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, Nutella and caramelised bacon, to name a few), he is a bassoonist working towards his Doctorate of Musical Arts at the CUNY Grad Center.

Doug explains with a laugh in the Daily News article:

Then, as now, the whole point is to make people happy. Whether they want to be or not, that is. There are a few people who I’ve yelled at for not smiling.

Asked by NPR what exactly makes it the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck (he certainly gets the question a lot):

Every day, at least a couple of times. And every time, I say, ‘I make it gay.’

I had never imagined a ice cream van driver to be very tech-savvy, but hey it is 2009. If you happen to be traveling to New York this summer and want to find out when and where Doug is selling, it’s best to check out his Twitter account. More background information about the project can be found on the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck blog and, of course, his EU shirt shop biggayicecreamtruck.spreadshirt.net provides you with the uniquely branded merchandise.

P.S. To hear the man himself, check out NPR’s radio interview with him at the top of their article.