05/23/02

Charlottesvillian Will Kerner may now be best known for his warmly hued travel photographs, but for much of the '70s, '80s, and '90s, it was his chilly treats that enthralled Central Virginia.

It all started in the summer of 1974, when Kerner was just another teen "goofing around" Virginia Beach. He rented a beat-up old ice-cream truck, and a business was born.

In 1976, Kerner brought the operation to Charlottesville when he began college at UVA. For 20 years, the Kerner trucks-- there were three on the road at one point-- plied local roads.

"The trucks weren't exactly new and shiny," says former driver Laura Parsons. "I think Will salvaged them from a junkyard."

Another former driver, Bill Norton, remembers that he once had to fix a muffler "with a beer can and a piece of wire."

What the trucks lacked in polish, they made up for with sound. Powerful stereo systems featured the then-cutting-edge technology of cassette decks which let each driver crank tunes at high decibels.

And the trucks were equipped with electric and manual bells.

"Each driver developed a signature ring that they swore subconsciously made people want to buy ice cream," says former driver Gate Pratt.

"Will encouraged us to hustle," says Pratt, "and encouraged competition for best sales among the drivers. The more you sold, the more you made. Seniority got you the best route."

Drivers agree that the poorer the neighborhood, the brisker the business.

"I concluded that as an ice cream driver," says Parsons, "I could pretty much go anywhere in the truck and be safe. After all, an ice cream truck is the ultimate bastion of goodness."

#

>> Back to The HooK front page