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LOCAL HISTORY >> DOUG’S DAIRY TWIRL

WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM

MEMORIES OF A LEGENDARY LOCAL TREAT LIVE ON

Doug’s Dairy Twirl W R ITTEN BY PEGGY M ACDONA LD

In high school, while most of his friends were dreaming about buying their first car, Doug Fackender wanted to purchase his own soft serve ice cream machine. His first job was at Rohn’s Dairy Queen on Hawthorne Road, across from the Tackle Box. This is where Fackender got serious about the ice cream business. “A friend of mine at the time, Billy Carlton of Carlton’s Dairy in Hawthorne, told me about a new twin serve soft ice cream machine he had seen at a restaurant equipment show in Chicago,” Fackender explained by email (he now lives in Thailand). “He thought it would be a great business opportunity for me to purchase one and he would make and sell me the soft serve mix.” The next step was to find a location. Fackender rented an empty building on N.W. 6th St. that had previously been a Glidden paint store. Then he purchased 28 |

OUR TOWN MAGAZINE

November/December 2019

Doug Fackender

PHOTOGRAPHY: COURTESY OF DOUG FACKENDER; NANCY SWILLEY