BROOKHAVEN — Painted a bright greenish blue, the Ole Brook Snow Cones and Snack building at 764 Industrial Park Road is nearing completion. Located next to Ole Brook Heating and Cooling, the snow cone stand will be ready for business hopefully by April, owner Beth Hutchinson said. 

She will be a co-owner of three businesses along with her husband Kevin Hutchinson on the stretch of Industrial Park Road. when the ice starts to be shaved and sold. They own Ole Brook Heating and Cooling, Ole Brook HVAC Parts and the snow cone and snack shop.

Ole Brook Snow Cones was originally planned to be a manufactured building to be installed on the property. While it would not be portable after installation, the building would be considered portable in Brookhaven. 

Beth said they went before the Brookhaven Board of Aldermen to ask for permission to place a portable building on the site in June. The aldermen opted to table the discussion and impose a moratorium on portable buildings in the city. Brookhaven’s board has yet to make a decision on portable buildings and have voted to extend the moratorium several times since June. In February, the board voted to extend the moratorium another 90 days. Hutchinson said they had made the decision after the June meeting to “Do things the right way,” and go a different direction. 

“We decided to go on ahead and build our own building. We decided we still wanted to do the snow cone stand,” Hutchinson said. “We are hoping to have it finished by April and are hoping to open up in April. We have worked really hard and now the final pieces are coming together. We also have to wait on the health department to do its inspection to be able to fully open and serve customers.” 

The building built on a concrete slab has been pieced together over the last eight months by a contractor. Weather delayed some of the progress on the building. 

Hutchinson said the structure will be a little bigger than the manufactured building they intended on purchasing because the concrete slab was bigger than anticipated. Right now, they are working to get the interior built out as the exterior is completed. 

She said they have owned the land for the past five years and wanted to add another business on the space. One idea was to open a laundromat or some other store. They settled on opening a snow cone and snack stand to serve the students at The Reading Nook Academy, the nearby neighborhoods and any families going out to the Lincoln County Civic Center. 

“Our kids go to the Reading Nook and it would be a good plus to have the school nearby. All of the traffic on Industrial going to ball games and the neighborhoods around. There is not a snow cone nearby on Industrial Park,” Hutchinson said. “We thought it would be a cool idea. We also thought it would be a good idea to allow our kids to work in the snow cone stand. We hope to hire high school students and college students and help the community.” 

The snow cone stand is not going to be the “bread winning,” business for Hutchinson. She hopes it will be a way to serve the community and bring fun and joy to children. One way they hope to provide fun is having activities in a nice grassy area by the snow cone stand. 

Snow Cones might have fun flavors around different times of the year and will be geared towards the children. They plan to sell snow cones at an affordable price because it is not expensive to make and the stand will not be their main business. Hutchinson and her husband will be managers along with her mom and they are certified in Safe Serv. 

“We just want to give a safe environment where teenagers can work,” she said. “I wish someone had thought about snow cone stands a long time ago. It would have been so much fun.” 

The stand will have a drive through window and a window where people can walk up and order. Hutchinson said she envisioned a mother of three children leaving ball games at the Civic Center when the drive through was planned. Her stand will be open Monday through Saturday and will be closed on Sunday so people can go to church. 

“We just want to bring something new and fun to Brookhaven. We are so close to opening,” Hutchinson said. “It will be shaved snow like ice. We have practiced with it. My husband and I are members of the exchange club and we made snow cones at Spring Fling this weekend. If you had a snow cone there you had a chance to taste some of our flavors.”