ALTO, Mich. — The next time you're driving on I-96 near Lowell, take the Alden Nash Avenue exit and head south. On the side of the road, nestled amongst the corn fields, you can't miss a bright red 1980 B&O caboose. Inside that 34-ton train car is a business called the Ice Cream Caboose, and it's celebrating a milestone.
"25 years ago, on July 15, we served our very first ice cream. It happened to be to my grandma. So we thought this was the day. Let's throw a party and celebrate with all our friends and all the people that made it possible for us to be here," said owner Tammi Wingeier.
Tammi and her husband Bruce held a 25th anniversary celebration for the Ice Cream Caboose on Monday. There was a cookout, a bounce house and face painting for kids. It was such a popular event, you could barely find a place to park.
The Ice Cream Caboose comes from unlikely beginnings. Tammi and Bruce never meant for this to be a business endeavor.
"Well, I wanted a caboose. Don't ask me why. I just wanted a caboose, and we brought it home and it sat there for a year," Tammi said, noting that Bruce didn't want the caboose in the front yard anymore.
"So one day we went, 'Hey, why don't we open an ice cream shop?' Neither one of us ever worked in an ice cream shop before, but I consider myself a connoisseur, so we did! We went to town and revamped it and painted it and moved it one more time up here. It was quite an adventure, but we had fun with it so and here we are!"
Since opening, the Ice Cream Caboose has added a pavilion and so many varieties of ice cream that Tammi says "If you can't get it here, I don't know where you can get it." The business has become a summer tradition, not only for customers, but for employees too.
"We've had like maybe three generations of family working here - you know, mom, daughter, and granddaughter also. So it must be a good place to work!" Tammi said with a laugh.