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| Photos | K. Ross Hoffman | |
The sun's still struggling to come out from the clouds on this blustery first day of spring, but that's not stopping small but respectable crowds from gathering at Rita's Water Ice locations around the city to celebrate with a free frozen treat. The chain's 1511 Spruce Street branch opened at noon today � an hour later than usual, to better prepare for the onslaught � and they were backed up almost immediately.� That's because the entire third-grade class of the Independence Charter School showed up (for a well-deserved break after a week of state standardized testing) as soon as the store opened for business.
Well, not exactly business. As manager Stan Scott puts it, "It's not always about making money � today is all about the love." The four fast-working members of the "treat team" loudly concurred. Scott expects a few thousand customers over the course of the day; the staff mentioned they'd be getting reinforcements for when schools let out this afternoon.
Once the third-graders cleared out, giddy and grinning, the line shrank to a more manageable two dozen or so, still long enough to allow time for some weighty decisions. "I've already changed my mind five times about what flavor I want," one girl exclaimed. In addition to standbys like mango and cherry (no sour apple today, sadly), there's a special new option on offer: the pale pink "mystery flavor," whose distinctly berry-ish taste is suspiciously reminiscent of strawberry lemonade.
Actually, I'll let you in on a little secret: I got a behind-the-scenes look at the operation and happened to spy the mixing instructions for the new flavor. It turns out the ingredients are: "sugar," "stabilizer" and "mix."
Mysterious.
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| Photos | K. Ross Hoffman | |
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