The Ackley Soda Fountain

The first time I remember visiting the Ackley soda fountain was on the evening of July of 2006 after listening to the MacDonald Family Singers sing at the bandshell.  The music at the concert was (for lack of a better description) simply awesome, and the park was packed with people, but it was blistering *hot!*  And since for some reason bandshells face the east, the musicians suffered with the sun in their eyes.  The mosquitoes started coming out for dinner after the concert to, so the soda fountain was the perfect place to escape to for ice cream!

Their Green River Phosphates are good too...but mint chip ice-cream (preferably in a sugar cone) has been my consistent post-concert order for the past 8 years (I have to eat my greens).

(In case you noticed, I couldn't resist sampling the ice cream before pictures...priorities first!)

Besides being a useful retreat after bandshell concerts, the soda fountain is affordable.   It seems to be a favorite place for high-schoolers to grab a cool snack or drink after school.  Mama and I stopped there recently while running errands in Ackley, and our total bill for two single-dip ice cream cones and two small Green Rivers was $6.00. 

The soda fountain, run by the local heritage society, also has a small museum-like collection of old portraits, yearbooks, medical supplies, and other items of historical significance to small-town Iowa.  The rectangular device seen in the right hand corner of the above photo is a "High Frequency Apparatus" that supposedly would cure many ailments when attached to a patient's body. 

The staff is friendly; the place is clean, and there's plenty of room for everyone.  There's even a chess/checker board built into one of the tables, so chess players should feel right at home (if they bring their own pieces--and opponents!).

 What funner way is there to learn about about history (or play chess) than to do so while eating ice cream?