Neighborhood Kids family fun in bellingham & whatcom county

Get Ice Cream from Biking Vendor

If you’re enjoying an afternoon outside in the yard this summer, you just might hear the friendly jingle from Tim Pattison’s ice cream bike. The sight of his half-bike, half-ice cream cart might be common on the New Jersey boardwalk, but it’s a bit more unusual in Bellingham.

Tim Pattison on his Ice Cream Bike.
Photo provided by Tim Pattison

Tim has been peddling ice cream, and pedaling his ice cream bike, around Bellingham neighborhoods since the middle of June. During the rest of the year, Tim is an artist and says that he has “done all kinds of things to pay the bills when artistry does not.”

Much of the fun of Tim’s venture is about providing something special for his customers aside from simply selling ice cream. After witnessing a less positive interaction of his own children with a different traveling ice cream vendor, Tim wanted to give kids a more pleasant experience.

Luckily for Tim, a resident of Deming, an ice cream shop in Lynden that was going out of business had an ice cream bike for sale.

“I told [the owner] I didn’t want the shop, but I’d buy his bike. I figured I’d spend the summer pedaling around town, giving people the positive and funky experience that I thought should go with the Ice Cream Guy,” he said.

In Tim’s ice cream cooler you’ll find an assortment of Good Humor ice cream products, which says a lot about his philosophy in selling ice cream.

“I want it to be fun and I want it to be ‘old style,’ since Good Humor was the classic ice cream truck in the 1930s to the 50s,” he explained.

Bellingham locals have responded quite positively to Tim and his ice cream bike, waving or honking when they see him riding through town.

“People like it, even if they aren’t going to buy ice cream,” he said. “It’s ‘green,’ it’s old-timey, and it’s goofy to see me try to drive the bike on the street.” Tim enjoys the fact that he can provide people with a laugh.

He noted that kids need to be outside playing in the yard if they’re going to hear his ice cream bell, rather than cooped up inside with the television. And as a parent himself, Tim knows that sometimes kids need to be told “no,” because otherwise it wouldn’t be something special to get a Popsicle or a Strawberry Shortcake ice cream bar from the Ice Cream Guy.

“It’s an opportunity for kids learn about saving to pay for their ice cream, too,” Tim said, as there are all kinds of creative ways for kids to collect the less than two dollars needed to buy some ice cream. Washing cars, walking the dog, or even looking under couch cushions are just a few ideas he suggested.

Keep your eyes peeled for Tim and his ice cream bike, and your ears open for his jingling bells, around Bellingham neighborhoods on hot days this summer.