Mack's Ice Cream

Growing up I had a number of jobs: occasional paperboy, lawn mower, snow shoveler, lifeguard, pool attendant, etc. but the best of these jobs was working at Mack's Ice Cream.

Jim Mack's Ice Cream - York, PA - Ice Cream Parlors on Waymarking.com
Mack's Ice Cream counter today
Just as I remember it

The ice cream was made onsite in the basement by the owner, the son of the founders. Mom Mack, one of the founders, always sat in a back room and kept an eye on both the kitchen and the ice cream counter. They made 30-40 flavors in that basement long before Baskin-Robbins 31 Flavors was ever heard of in our community.

PHOTOS | Jim Mack’s Ice Cream & Miniature Golf | Visit PA Dutch Country
The owner of this store, Jimmy, was a year younger than me and trained at our store.
He's the only kid I knew who had a new Mustang Mach 1 to drive.

There was an older gentlemen (about my current age) who also dipped ice cream with us - I believe his name was Jim. He lived in the mobile home park immediately behind Mack's so he could walk to work. Adjacent to Mack's was a huge public pool, about the size of 6 typical country club or swim club pools. It was huge. They would empty it in the fall and fill it again in the spring. The last time I went to Mack's the pool had been filled in to be swum in no more. In fact you would never know a pool had ever been there. My brother Joe eventually worked there along with a friend, Tom Epley, who was the reason I was I hired in the first place.

This store was in Red Lion, much closer to our home but it's not the one where I worked.
In fact we almost never went there.

I started working there during my junior year and stayed through the end of high school. I believe we made something around $2/hr or $2.25/hr. During the winter months, when not a whole lot of ice cream was eaten, I would have paychecks for as little as $8. Had I worked on the restaurant side of the store work hours wouldn't have been so few in the winter. But if you had a choice between dipping ice cream or frying burgers, which would you choose?







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