WORDS Tara Crutchfield
PHOTOGRAPH Amy Sexson
A Snowball’ s Chance in Winter Haven A snowball with a side of nostalgia, please! Cain’s Snowballs, a Sixth Street shaved ice spot, turned a year old at the beginning of this year. The eatery – or should I say treatery – was opened on January 5, 2019, by husband and wife, Ron and Dean Cain. The Cains, both born and raised in the Sunshine State, grew up in Orlando. Dean moved to the area in 2012, met her husband, and moved him to Lake Alfred with her and their two older pups, Jake and Jessie. “We love the area. It is such a great community,” said Dean.
THE ANDERSEN CYCLE & KEY SHOP When they found the 6th Street locale for Cain’s Snowballs, they fell in love. It was a neat building in a good location, and the building’s history turned out to be the cherry on top. Al and Ruth Andersen opened Andersen Cycle & Key Shop across from City Hall in the 1940s, according to Dean. “They built this building and relocated in the 50s,” she said. The official opening date of the new building was February 1, 1956. It persisted for three generations, leaving pieces of its history in the form of old photographs, signs, and stories from past bike shop patrons for the Cains to uncover.
Dean still has a day job in Orlando as a House Manager, and Ron was a truck driver until they started building the budding snowball business. The snowball concept seemed a natural fit for the area which had none at the time. “If you go to New Orleans, there’s 200 of these [shaved ice] shops – one on every corner it seems. You can find them in North Carolina and Georgia, Tennessee – but in Florida, there is only a handful,” said Ron.
“We have so many people come in and tell us they bought their first bike from the Andersens. They like to come in and reminisce,” said Dean. Like the Andersen’s bike store, the Cains hope to see their Winter Haven snowball shop go on for three generations with Ron’s son Kyle, and any future grandchildren he has, according to Dean.
The Cains opted to create their own brand rather than franchising with an existing company. Though they are in the business of confections, Ron said, “We didn’t want a cookie-cutter type of atmosphere.” From special menu items to the display of the building’s history, or the tables, high tops, benches, and counter they built – everything is unique, everything is a reflection of the Cains’ vision for a rustic, sweet neighborhood snowball stop.
Dean remembers spotting the old Schwinn sign on the side of the building. “We knew immediately that we wanted to take that sign down and incorporate it inside the building,” she said. As they cleaned and renovated the building, Ron and Dean would find more odds and ends of its history. The front door at Cain’s is original to the building – it too had a story to tell. According to Dean, Mr. Andersen drilled a - CONTINUED ON PAGE 48 -
havenmagazines.com
46
