LAURINBURG — What do a Bahama Mama, Sponge Bob and Fruity Pebbles all have in common?
They are all flavor combinations patrons of Icebreakers can use to top their snoballs.
The Bahama Mama is a fruity mixture of syrups with a hint of coconut while Sponge Bob combines pineapple and banana. Fruity Pebbles is a blend of all the shop’s berry flavors.
Icebreakers is a shaved ice business that began about nine months ago and is co-owned by Sandy and Dwayne Diggs. The brightly colored building, complete with a mural of their mascot Baker the beaver, is nestled in between Mi Casita’s Mexican restaurant and Jack and Jenny’s Nail on South Main Street.
The idea for the New Orleans-style shaved ice was to have a family-oriented business that got the youth of the community involved.
“We wanted to involved the young people of Laurinburg — whether that was through employment or activity-based based for young children, hence the outdoor games,” said Diggs.
The outdoor picnic tables have giant Jenga, an oversized connect-four and a cardboard cut-out for children to take pictures with Baker the beaver.
The type of shaved ice that is served is called a snoball, not to be confused with a snow cone. The ice of a snoball is fine and fluffy, while a snow cone had ice that is more coarse and crunchy in texture. Another major difference is how the flavored syrup interacts with the ice.
In a snow cone, the flavored syrup sinks to the bottom of the cup, while in a snoball the ice absorbs the syrup. The Diggs’ were adamant that Icebreakers does not serve snow cones, they serve shaved ice.
“Snoballs are definitely not snow cones because of the texture and signature taste,” she said. “Our ice is not crunchy, it’s shaved ice.”
Icebreakers offers 118 flavor choices, ranging from blackberry to red velvet cake, along with 10 sugar-free options. Patrons can top their frozen treat with five different variations of gummy worms and 11 different toppings including whipped cream, strawberry syrup and condensed milk.
But wait, there’s more.
Snoballs can also be stuffed in the middle with scoops of ice cream, which is how Sandy likes to have hers.
“My favorite snoball is a unicorn with whip cream and marshmallows stuffed with vanilla ice cream,” she said.
The unicorn is a combination of cotton candy and sky lite syrup and topped with either fairy dust (sprinkles) or whipped cream — or both. The blue and pink treat is Icebreakers most popular snoball, according to employees Jaylynn Allen and Reagan Cheek.
Diggs said the strangest combination a customer has asked for is watermelon and pickle.
“It was actually good,” she said.
The recipe for Icebreaker’s syrup is a secret, but Diggs did reveal it’s made with love.
With summer right around the corner, the business is busier than ever as people try to find ways to beat the heat. Icebreakers is seasonal and according to Diggs will be open until November and will re-open in mid-February, both opening and closing dates are based on the weather.
Amber Hatten-Staley can be reached at 910-506-3170 or [email protected].
