04/21/2022
Hello All-
After two years (2020 & 2021), Belfast Shaved Ice & Provisions will NOT be in Belfast City Park this year.
The City has decided to go in a different direction then what we had to offer. A decision that was a complete surprise to us, as we were told we had it as long as we wanted to be there.
It was a great honor and privilege to have been part of seeing so many happy people visit us over those 2 short years.
The first year brought us great challenges with the pandemic, no pool, no social gatherings, for the most part just isolation, plus stage 4 cancer.
Yet, we did it. And in doing so, we met and made many new friends as we were able to share a mutual smile with the many that came by.
It’s amazing what a simple smile can do during a pandemic, now just imagine what that same smile does for someone in a pandemic with cancer.
Yes, most turned out to be paying customers, but not all.
There were also some very special non-paying customers.
The kid that fell and scraped up his knees, the girl who got stung by hornets, the kid who got a splitter, the person that had Alzheimer’s and was “lost”, the homeless that were just looking for a morsel and a bus ticket…
And the kids that just didn’t have quite enough money for their order, but seeing them smile was worth far more then the money they were lacking.
Having a concession stand in City Park is not like having a restaurant or take out on Main Street or any other place, for that matter.
City Park is not a place that will support one’s motives to make much money.
Instead, the motive has to be of compassion, the weekly first aid calls, the kids that only have pocket change, the lost and the homeless, and making people smile.
Belfast City Park is a magical place, not a “commercial enterprise” place, something that is mostly overlooked.
But with that all being in the past, (except the cancer) it’s time for us to move on in life.
With that being said-
THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH.