Dickie Dee
Who out there remembers Dickie Dee Ice Cream?
If you don’t remember or have never heard of Dickie Dee, let me explain it to you. Dickie Dee was an ice cream company that sold its products outdoors throughout the summer. But unlike normal ice cream companies (and child molesters), they didn’t use just ice cream trucks. Dickie Dee hired teenagers to ride around town in these pimped out tricycles. The tricycles had these little coolers to keep the products frozen.
I don’t know why I was thinking about this today. I wonder if there’s a support group out there for adults who used to be teens employed by Dickie Dee.
I don’t know if the company still operates. Children, their target market, don’t quite go out and play as much as they used to. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they got sued for breach of some child labour laws.
Here’s a photo I found on the net of some guy in a suit driving a Dickie Dee cart. It looks like he’s working a wedding or something. Can’t you just see it, the bridal party is outside having their photos taken then a Dickie Dee guy comes riding by right into the shot. “Get your popsicles he’e!”
I don’t think, in all my years, I’ve ever had anything from a Dickie Dee cart. When I was a kid and played baseball, there was always a Dickie Dee cart going from diamond to diamond before and after each game. I usually just went to Dairy Queen or Baskin Robbins after each game.
February 14, 2008 at 10:10 am
I don’t remember these carts, but the name makes me laugh. huhuhhu
February 14, 2008 at 10:11 am
I do remember those carts but don’t recall if i’ve ever had an ice cream out of them either. In Togo they had this big ice cream truck come by and of course we indulged. It was more for the fun of having soft ice cream in West Africa cause it tasted nasty!
February 14, 2008 at 10:40 am
I don’t remember having something from it but i must have at some point. Meanwhile I once sold pop for $1 each at my brother’s baseball games. Made me some nice cash.
February 14, 2008 at 11:29 am
JLee - I think the company only operated in Canada.
Miss Ash - Ice cream in Africa. Hmmm… how much ice cream would Africa require to end all the fussin’ ana feudin’? Think about it. If everyone in Africa had lots of ice cream, that might help solve much of the strife that exists on that continent.
Bob - I thought your brother drove on of those carts for a summer. Guess it was somebody else’s brother.
February 14, 2008 at 11:49 am
LOL… this is really random. I’m with JLee, the name cracks me up. I’d buy just for the name.
February 14, 2008 at 11:51 am
Never heard of Dickie Dee. Here in California, we used to FREAK OUT whenever we were playing outside and heard the eerie, twinkly songs from the ice cream truck that would buzz around our neighborhood. Everyone would stop what they were doing and freeze, listen to see if it was really true, then yell, “ICE CREAM!!!” All the kids would dash home to Mom to get some change before the truck would pass by… brings to memory the Eddie Murphy bit from his Delirious movie, “I got some iiiice cream, and you don’t have none…” Ahhh, good times.
February 14, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Last summer I actually had a conversation with the guy inside an ice cream truck. He said that the city of Toronto is charging more and more for a vending license every year, and soon it won’t be worth anyone’s while to have these trucks that are only in business for half the year. That’s so sad! We should complain to the mayor.
February 14, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Jillian - I can’t explain the genesis of this idea. It just sort of happened to be in my brain. Its not like its ice cream weather. I’m surrounded by snow and ice.
Random Chick - Yeah, when you’re a kid, the ice cream truck is the greatest. When you’re stuck behind one driving through a subdivision, the horrible chime tune it plays can get really annoying.
Spark - don’t get me started on Toronto politics.
February 14, 2008 at 2:29 pm
We had something like that in my hometown. Those poor bastards got abused on a regular basis by various pranksters.
February 14, 2008 at 3:25 pm
wiwille - I just had this image of you, as a late teen/early twenty something chasing some squeaky voiced teen through around a baseball diamond while yelling “Gimme a fudgicle! I wanna fudgicle!”
February 14, 2008 at 4:20 pm
i’ve never heard of that…but now I want some. I freakin love popsicles. not too big on regular ice cream though.
February 14, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Totally remember it! Much tamer than the icecream truck which makes me sad (it’s the music).
February 15, 2008 at 7:55 am
Maxie - Oh, that’s hot…
Rawbean - Dickie Dee was definitely a symbol of the Canadian summer.