Snowball stand experience? (Baltimore, Dundalk, Frederick: transplants, chapel, house)

[P47P47]

Anybody work at or own a snowball stand?

Tell us about it.


In 1976, my brother had the idea to make some money by opening a snowball stand. He found a used Sno-Master machine at a store in Brooklyn, and I got the task of refurbishing it. In re-assembling it, I broke the mercury switch, so we went to the Sno-Master factory on Hopkins Place to get a replacement. When we gave the guy there the serial number of our machine, he said that it was an older model and that we'd need an adapter piece to mount the new switch. We told him that was fine and asked if he could tell us when our machine was built. He disappeared in the back for a while, and when he came out with the parts he told us that our machine had been built in 1951 and originally sold to a Read's drug store (I think on Cold Spring Lane).

We set up our stand on the edge of the lot of a Sunoco station at the corner of Hospital Drive and Elvaton Road in Glen Burnie. My brother knew a guy who worked there, and the owner said we could set up there and plug our machine into his station power if we gave the guys who worked there free snowballs. That worked out well, since we only used power when we were actually grinding ice, and their guys weren't abusing the free snowballs.

We just had a table and about a dozen flavors. No marshmallow, which were were surprised to find out was so popular. But that needed a special dispenser that had to be kept plugged in and powered up all the time. We were also surprised to find out how popular chocolate flavor was. Since it didn't need the special dispenser, we added chocolate to our flavor selections. It was just a little more expensive than regular flavors, and customers were surprised that we didn't charge extra for chocolate.

After operating there for a while, we tried grinding the ice into coolers and taking them across from the Social Security building.

It was fun for a while, and we made a little money, but that was the end of the snowball venture for us.

I still have the Sno-Master machine and have broken it out for parties a couple of times over the years.

[UserName14289]

I * love* this thread! Thank you for starting it! I replied to your questions on the other thread, but I can't wait to hear from local people on how they opened their stands! Now that I'm living in MD again, I have little interest in opening one since I can now drive to my favorites again (Busy Bee Snowballs at Chapel Hill, for the win), but I'd love to hear their stories.

And yes, you *must* have marshmallow. And not just any marshmallow. It has to be the right flavor and consistency, or I won't return. I find it interesting in all my talks with stand owners, how many are using the same marshmallow, but prepare it differently. They get the KoldKiss brand marshmallow, but it comes pretty solid and they have to stir it (which many seem to hate that part). So I find it so interesting that some stands I hate their marshmallow and it's the same brand of the one I love, just the one I dislike is watered down too much, and sometimes has been sweetened. Ick.

Many also, to my surprise, get the same syrups, but again, prepare them differently and, of course, apply them in different quantities.

Then there's the ice. If it's not crushed ice, I want nothing to do with it. I look inside the stand for that silver and blue KoldKiss machine, and if it's anything else, I've learned over time to just move on. Shaved ice is an Italian Ice, not a snowball. Anyone older than their mid-30s knows that.

We actually go to stands and rate them based on ice texture, syrup flavor, syrup quantity, marshmallow consistency, marshmallow flavor, marshmallow quantity, and overall ice-to-syrup-to-marshmallow ratio. Ironically, price and location play little into our decision, but will prevail in event of a tie. We have issues. lol

As for starting a stand in CA, we were looking at about a $20k investment, just to open, not to run and maintain it.

[MidValleyDad]

Ice machines??? That is sacrilige. The snowball stands I remember had a solid block of ice and a little metal trapazoid shaped plane that the person ran across the ice planing it down and collected it in the top. a regular snowball took an entire plane full of ice. N o electricity needed. The ice was kept in coolers and the stand was set up in the persons yard.

[westsideboy]

We don't have snowballs in Allegany County. We have snowcones, they don't have marshmallow. I wonder where the snowball/snowcone line is in Maryland?

[UserName14289]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

We don't have snowballs in Allegany County. We have snowcones, they don't have marshmallow. I wonder where the snowball/snowcone line is in Maryland?

I think it's a Baltimore thing, because I couldn't find a single snowball in Frostburg, LaVale, or Cumberland (just to name a few). I wonder where the line is too. I don't recall being able to find any at the beach either, but it's been quite some time since I've been to OC over Cape May.

My quick (and far from in-depth) research says that perhaps there aren't even any as far west as Frederick. I wonder if a Frederick local can confirm this.

[UserName14289]

Originally Posted by MidValleyDad

Ice machines??? That is sacrilige. The snowball stands I remember had a solid block of ice and a little metal trapazoid shaped plane that the person ran across the ice planing it down and collected it in the top. a regular snowball took an entire plane full of ice. N o electricity needed. The ice was kept in coolers and the stand was set up in the persons yard.

I love this!! May I ask what year? That's fascinating. When I was little, KoldKiss was all the rage. Now they are very hard to find, with the advent of so many shaved ice machines. These young kids don't know that unless it's crushed ice, it's simply not a snowball. When you have a two-ingredient food, you really can't go mucking up with tradition. lol That also makes a lot of sense given what I've heard from generations before me about the ice being different even when they were little, even more crunchy, the way god intended. lol

[MidValleyDad]

Originally Posted by UserName14289

I love this!! May I ask what year? That's fascinating. When I was little, KoldKiss was all the rage. Now they are very hard to find, with the advent of so many shaved ice machines. These young kids don't know that unless it's crushed ice, it's simply not a snowball. When you have a two-ingredient food, you really can't go mucking up with tradition. lol That also makes a lot of sense given what I've heard from generations before me about the ice being different even when they were little, even more crunchy, the way god intended. lol

Early to mid 60s in Dundalk primarily but I saw them all over the Baltimore area. Usuallly just a folding table under a tree or maybe with an umbrella.

[UserName14289]

Originally Posted by MidValleyDad

Early to mid 60s in Dundalk primarily but I saw them all over the Baltimore area. Usuallly just a folding table under a tree or maybe with an umbrella.

That's exactly where my father was in the mid-60's. That explains it. lol

By the early 80s, I guess they'd upgraded to the KoldKiss. Since KoldKiss wasn't yet invented until the mid-80s, maybe I also had the ice you speak of but don't remember it. I just remember it was always crunchy, not slushy or shaved.

Now you have to hunt for crushed / crunchy ice. I think transplants that don't know any better are requesting the shaved ice because it's all they know from having Italian ice or snow cones out of town. Kind of like some of the restaurants in Greektown abandoning their Greek recipes over the last few decades to appeal to the American palate. So sad. But a few have remained true to their roots, and those are the only places we vote with our dollars.

Speaking of Dundalk snowballs, any chance that you remember the mom and daughter duo team with the corner house on Merritt Blvd. behind the CCBC sports field that was across the street from the old Mars? They had a nice wood shed stand next to their hugs pool in their yard. They could make a mean snowball. They were our favorite until they shut down a few decades later. There have been other stands at the top of our list, but none compared to their snowballs until we found Busy Bee Snowballs at Chapel Hill.

[MidValleyDad]

Mars on Merrit Blvd? Did they take over the grocery store in the Merrit Blvd shopping center across from the old North Point Junior High School (Which later became a Police station/county office building) We moved out of Dundalk before those changes took place.

[cjmeck]

When it warms up, you have to drive out to Woodstock and check out the snowball stand on Rt. 99/Woodstock Road. My family LOVES that place. Growing up in Ohio, I had never heard of marshmallow snowballs but seriously, these are crazy good. The place is packed all summer long.