Reconnecting with Ben & Jerry’s, via T-shirt
Ice cream past comes full circle
Cleaning out my Tshirt drawer a couple of weeks ago, I decided it might finally be time to part with my oldest one.
Over the years, I’d reluctantly retired souvenirs of some time, place or idea from my past because, well, they were Tshirts, and new ones were always joining the collection — some I might even wear.
But I hung on to my Ben & Jerry’s Homemade shirt. I won the shirt for making the finals of an ice-cream-eating contest outside Ben & Jerry’s original store in Burlington, Vt., in 1978, the company’s first year in business.
I was a college student there at the time, and one of the shop’s first best customers. Ben & Jerry’s, of course, went on to become a world-famous brand, known as much for its clever marketing and a socially conscious corporate identity as its ice cream.
But in the fall of 1978, the renovated gas station had only been open for a few months. The contest was part of their marketing efforts during Fall Down, Burlington’s downtown fall festival.
After I left Vermont, I followed news of Ben & Jerry’s evolution. As it became a bigger and bigger success, I’d occasionally mention I had been around at their start. Sometimes I’d hear from someone who visited the Burlington store that they had seen my picture from that first fall event on the wall. The photo also wound up in an A&E “Biography” documentary about the company.
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield became more enduring heroes of my youth than the Clash or Elvis Costello or other people and events of previously discarded Tshirts. They made a lot of money but always furthered other causes, like supporting the Vermont economy, empowering their employees — and having fun.
But still. It was 2017. I hadn’t worn the shirt in decades. I saw that many other Ben & Jerry’s shirts — none as rare as mine — were for sale on eBay. So I thought it was time.
A couple days later, I overheard a colleague mention that Jerry from Ben & Jerry’s was coming to Milwaukee Friday to judge ice cream made by students in the Milwaukee Public Schools new culinary arts program.
I went to cover the event, and brought my shirt. Jerry hugged me (he hugs everyone), and we briefly reminisced about that first Fall Down carnival and the ice-cream-eating contest. (I didn’t win. I did get to keep the two gallons of vanilla, but couldn’t eat any for weeks since I suffered a bad case of frostbite on the roof of my mouth during the competition.)
Even though he and Ben Cohen have been millionaires for years, they remain committed to progressive causes and social justice activism through the company’s foundation. In Milwaukee on Friday, Jerry engaged with all of the students, staff and guests at the competition, sharing insights from his years of creating ice cream flavors, and later served as one of the judges.
Before I left, he signed my shirt. “Still scooping and licking. Jerry.”
The experience reminded me of a story I’d written a few years ago about the first Super Bowl shirt. A man who still had one his mother had gotten him as a child refused a $1,000 offer for it from the designer’s grandson but was ultimately persuaded to donate it to the Packers Hall of Fame.
Maybe my original Ben & Jerry’s T-shirt (with the early “Lick it” tagline on the back) could wind up back in Vermont in a case some day. But for now, it’s back in my drawer.