This Jersey Shore tradition is still alive... in some places

As a kid you may remember guys lugging heavy freezer trunks full of ice cream yelling out for customers. In Wildwood and other towns the common cry was, "ice cream, fudgie wudgie, who'll have and ice cream!"

You don't hear that on beaches in New Jersey these days but the guys are still out there, at least in some places.

Wildwood/ Jordan Jansson/Townsquare Media

On Absecon Island — which is home to Atlantic City, Ventnor, Margate, and Longport — the topic of allowing the beach sales of ice cream and who will be permitted to do it seems to pop up every few years. Ventnor contracts with a veteran's group who sends guys out to sell ice cream, up and down the beach.

The subject came up again this spring in Ventnor City council meetings, due to the disparity in what that city brings in tax revenue from ice cream sales compared to the neighboring towns.

In neighboring Atlantic City, right over the border from Ventnor, the guys continue to hawk the sweet summer treat, but now the ice chest is hauled on big plastic beach wheels in a cart.

Dennis Malloy/Townsquare Media

You can see the condensation billowing out of the chest from the dry ice inside that keeps the ice cream frozen. We used to ask the guys for a small chunk to put in a bucket of water to watch it bubble and steam.

Some towns only allow trucks to pull up to the beach at the end of the block and ring their bells to alert beachgoers that he's there.

But there's something special about having the vendor walk past your blanket and you can flag him down right there. This past Sunday in A.C., one of the longtime regular vendors called "Bird Man" was having a pretty good day and nobody seemed to care about his license or what vendor group he is affiliated with.

They were just happy that ice cream pulled right up to their spot on the beach.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.

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THE DEFINITIVE LIST OF THE SWEETEST ICE CREAM PARLORS IN MONMOUTH AND OCEAN COUNTIES

One of the Top 50 Candy stores in the US is right here in Jersey

Black River Candy Shoppe in Chester New Jersey was selected in Food Network Magazine's “America’s 50 Best Candy Stores” a couple of years back and the story went viral online earlier this year.

I decided to take a trip down there for myself to see what they had to offer. Right, when you walk in you feel like you are Charlie about to take over the chocolate factory. Black River Candy Shoppe is a cute little candy shop offering hundreds of different types of candy.

They have old-school childhood candy as well as an incredible selection of newer candy varieties. Candy is displayed in old whiskey barrels, and a lot of their candy is sold in bulk by the pound. It is located in downtown Chester right off of Main Street. Check out the photos from my recent visit: