Living The Dream: The Lucky Duck Ice Cream Truck Is Heading Out Across Maine This Summer

"Being a resident of Hampden, with kids...just seeing a whole in the community for brining more to it. Really, it was about Hampden to start. If you about Hampden, we're really community based. You'll go to sporting events and there's really nothing there to build these core childhood memories, and we saw the truck as being a way to do that."

That's was the the inspiration Stacey Sullivan says is behind fulfilling a childhood dream of hers, to open a new ice cream truck.

"I guess you could say it's kind of been a lifelong dream to be an ice cream truck driver. Back in high school, I grew up in Massachusetts, and we had the Good Humor Truck pretty consistently and we all saw that die as a culture and since I've always kind of played with the idea.

Sullivan, who lives in Hampden, has two young kids who are 7 and 10. She says she wanted them to not only have that ice cream truck experience, but also create a family business for them to be able to have.

"I grew up in a family business and loved it and really wanted to be able to give that opportunity to them in a way. I was kind of half, one foot in, one foot out on it. It was really about finding the right truck. And we did, down in Massachusetts last summer."

Sullivan says once the truck had been outfitted, she and her family did a soft launch of the Lucky Duck Ice Cream Truck in the Hampden area last September and October, so that she could see how it was received and iron out some wrinkles before launching for their first full season this year.

And they plan to be stocked up and ready with dozen of fan favorite flavors, both classic and new.

"It was important to us to have a really diverse menu with all the classics and some of the new stuff that's been coming out. We have over 60 pre-packaged ice cream novelties. So call the classics; the snow cones, the bomb pops, the push-ups, the screwballs. Then we have the ice cream sandwiches, the cookie sandwiches...you name it, we carry it. We have everything."

She says she hopes to officially open for business, weather permitting, Easter Weekend (April 19th) as it's the first full day of April vacation this year.

"We're hoping to do a 4-5 day routing with the truck, the priority being to provide the neighborhood ice cream truck experience to Hampden, Hermon, Brewer and Winterport. And we want to do residential routes through the big neighborhood streets where the kids are really located. "

They feature the old fashion ice-cream truck music, too, so you should be able to hear them coming down your street.

Sullivan says individuals, businesses and organizations will also be able to reserve the ice cream truck, as well for private events.

She says folks can find out more about The Lucky Duck Ice Cream Truck through their website and social media accounts.

If you're looking for the actual truck, there's a way to find out where that is too, on any given day.

"We have a real time truck locator that can be accessed both on the website and on social media. So daily, when we are out, you can see where we are in real time and where we're heading. "

"People seem very excited. It's really pinging those childhood memories on the parents right now. They seem really psyched that their kids can have the same experience going on for them, too."