The Light
with Raymond Tyler
According to the calendar, I have not been a child for about 40 years, but if you ask my friends I get very childish when my sports teams don’t win.
When I was a child and a young adult, my father and I would bond over ice cream. He had to sneak and take me out for ice cream without my mother knowing.
My mom, whom I affectionately call a “savings nazi,” would always shoot down ice cream and fast-food burgers with, “we’ve got that at home.” My father, on the other hand, saw stopping by a summer ice-cream stand as an inexpensive way to bond with his oldest son.
For just a little bit of money, Dad was a hero.
Ice-cream stands provided more flavors than you could get at the supermarket (still do). And let’s be honest; when you are 8 years old, ice cream tastes better from an ice-cream stand, even if it’s always vanilla. Ice cream with Dad tasted even better because we’d sit in the parking lot or go out to Captain Starn’s or sit on the boardwalk and talk.
I am writing this column to suggest taking your son, daughter, or the whole family to Main Event Custard, Soft and Hard Ice Cream, located at 820 N. Main St. in Pleasantville for ice cream.
Ice cream is still a wonderful way to surprise someone you love. I often see happy couples as I am placing my order. No one bickers over ice cream.
At Main Event, the staff is always friendly and keeps the stand clean. The choices still out-rank what you will find in a supermarket. Main Event offers an extensive variety of ice-cream flavors, water ice, custard and several franchise specific choices like Spider-Man.
Don’t tell my doctor but I was able to get a scoop of orange sherbet, a scoop of peach and a scoop of strawberry cheesecake for about $5. People with normal appetites can get a scoop in a cup or cone for just under $5 before tax (extra special cones and jimmies/sprinkles cost extra).
The ice cream is not only delicious, but it’s great from the freezer the next day, even though I can’t devour three whole scoops of Main Event ice cream at one time.
The bad news is that come Oct.15, Main Event will be closing for the 2023 season. The good news is that until then, I can take my niece there and bond with her: me with my sherbet and she with her SpongeBob ice cream.
The other day for less than $20, I was able to get ice cream for my whole family (three of us.) My mother and my brother love Main Event’s banana ice cream. Once in a while I will go alone and order a single scoop…and wish I could still bond with my dad over a scoop of ice cream before the end of another summer.
Main Event Custard, Soft and Hard Ice Cream is open from 1 to 9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, and 1 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It’s located at 820 N. Main St. in Pleasantville.
You can connect with Raymond Tyler via Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram @RaymondTyler2018.
