35 Seasons of Scooping

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Created on Thursday, 01 May 2014 17:00

Written by Julianne Walshaw

LYNDONVILLE- Judging by the recent damp weather, it’s safe to say spring has sprung in the Kingdom, but a little rain won’t keep patrons away from Carmen’s Ice Cream, who is celebrating 35 seasons at their historic Lyndonville location.

In 1979, Nate and Fran Houghton started their seasonal scoop shop as a way to give their 16-year-old daughter a job, proudly naming their business after her.

After Carmen grew out of her scooping years, the Houghtons still continued to run the ice cream window until 2000, when the Paris family took over.

Like the Houghtons, Kathy and Eric Paris had a teenage daughter to employ, and 14 years later she’s still there!

Bonnie Paris started working at Carmen’s when she was only 14 years old. After graduating high school she attended Lyndon State College to study business. She now manages the critically acclaimed ice cream shop as well as The Freighthouse restaurant.

“Its funny, when I started working here there were a lot od kids that were really little that were coming to get ice cream. They couldn’t even see over the counter, and now some of them work for me,” Bonnie reminisced.

The Freighthouse sits as it did over a century ago, right in downtown Lyndonville. Through the years the building has seen a few changes, but from the start the Paris family has made sure to stay true to the building’s historic integrity.

“We really wanted a year-round business, so the only way to do that was to renovate the building so that it could be heated,” Bonnie explained, “it wasn’t insulated before… and we really wanted to have a place the local farms would be able to sell to and we could serve our local products.”

In 2004 renovations were underway, keeping to the Paris’s “local first” values throughout the process. The lumber was locally sourced and they decided to stick to the buildings signature post and beam style interior. The shell of the original building remains as it was, you can even see some of the aged dark brown beams along its walls.

Beneath the floor there is an old Fairbanks scale that was likely used back when the old freight house saw the commerce of the surrounding area go in and out it’s doors through the mid 1800’s to the 1960’s.

The restaurant is now celebrating a decade’s worth of serving fresh farm to table meals.

“Our food is all, as much as possible, locally sourced. It’s organic when possible, we like to do things from scratch,” Bonnie said.

From their bread and buns, to their baked goods everything is made in house. They use a Vermont made flour as well as preserved local berries.

The restaurant’s beef comes from their own Tamerlane Farm and is certified grass-fed organic, and the other meats are, of course, local as well.

“We support as many local farms as possible,” Bonnie says with a smile, “were really conscious of where we source our products from.”

The local aspects of the business are what Bonnie believes contributes to the years of success the restaurant has had, “[The community] comes here because we support our neighbors. A lot of them will send people in and say my products at The Freighthouse go there, you’ll support them and you’ll support me. It’s a really nice relationship we have with the area.”

Having grown locally herself, Bonnie hopes to continue to work with the community, providing homegrown products, and sweet summertime classics for many anniversaries to come.