May’s Water Ice marks 70 years of serving cool treats
CHESTER » On the most brutal day of sweltering heat this year, Tuesday, one of a few releases from the oppressing humidity has remained the same for 70 years.
Serving nearly 300 customers each day in the summer, May’s Water Ice in Chester has been an institution since 1947; the family business remains at the same intersection it first occupied.
Owner Kevin May said that while the city has changed drastically over the decades, the familial nature of visitors to the Italian ice shop has remains constant and familiar.
“We’ve been serving families and children and their children’s children,” May said. “They call us family.”
Tuesday they were selling the last remaining orders of the ‘Golden State’ flavor he’s concocted, a mixture that May asks of his customers with a wry smile the origins of the flavors. There was certainly a hint of pineapple in there. May said he threw out the ‘Cavaliers’ that day because “they’re losers,” but beamed at his timely creations.
And while the lemon and honeydew are righteous on their own accord, it was the mixture of flavors that May was touting Tuesday in the sweltering heat — strawberry lemonade and lemon — that to his clientele made for a mouthwatering red and yellow swirl.
“You have to watch out for the brain freeze,” May warned. “One time a guy in line got it so bad — he had the Italian ice in one hand and a beer in the other — and he slapped his forehead and dropped his beer on the ground.”
Always experimenting, May’s cousin and business associate, Tom Welch, said the secret comes from clean spoons.
“You don’t see a stain on that spoon, do you?” Welch asked, referring to the “too sweet” Rita’s and similar kind of ice that customers to May’s know and preach the difference of.
“This is the most authentic water ice,” said Aysia Pierce, who dug into her strawberry lemonade and lemon swirl with delight. “You can taste the difference, it’s homemade.”
“I’m always working on new concoctions, different mixes,” May said, showing off the equipment that gently freezes water and molds it with a variety of flavored syrups into the delicious and consistent ice, ready to serve in a half-hour flat.
In glory days, he said, back when his father and mother, Sonny and Carol May, ran the business on the opposite corner of Second and Parker Streets in the east end, the line would stretch around the corner, he said. They had trucks where they’d serve ices at Memorial Park, as remembered fondly by Melvin McCommons Sr.
“You need to get those trucks back and serve at baseball games,” the lifelong customer, McCommons, 62, said. “I was raised with May’s.”
The next customer, who rolled up with Delaware tags on his car, said it was his second time getting a cup.
“What brings inquired. you back?” May
“Because the first one was good,” the man responded.
A good answer, according May.
Customers picked up throughout the afternoon, especially at the peak of the afternoon around 2:30 p.m.
Prices range from a dollar for a cup to the large $3.50 cups, a buck for a pretzel, and they even sell quarts of the product — one of five different flavors every day.
“This ice is made with love,” said Latifah Griffin. “My whole family has been coming here my entire life, it’s special.” that to
May said that despite the oft violent nature of the streets of Chester, the location has been protected by vigilant and caring neighbors.
“They look said.
Throughout the years and all the concoctions May has dreamed up, including a Shane Victorino inspired ‘Flyin’ Hawaiian,’ the ‘Bahama Mama’ and the ‘Tootsie Fruit,’ May can only think of a single time a flavor went awry.
“I messed up the root beer float, I missed something, but it would have been fantastic,” he chuckled. out for us,” May