Island Dairy Treat in Skowhegan is pictured in this photo from the May 27, 1985, edition of the Morning Sentinel. Clipping from Newspapers.com

“Dad, can we go to the dairy treat?”

It is one of my earliest memories, begging our father to drive us to the ice cream stand in Skowhegan.

On a hot summer afternoon in the late 1950s, early 1960s, we’d pile into the station wagon, head toward downtown and drive over the old bridge that spanned the Kennebec River’s north channel.

I was frightened by that bridge because it had a grated bed through which you could see the roiling and angry water below after it came crashing down from the dam spanning the island and downtown. The bridge, which since has been replaced, still haunts my dreams.

The “dairy treat,” as we called it then, was situated on the island, diagonally across the street from the fire station and another dam facing the south channel bridge. We kids would rush up to the window to get our small cones of vanilla ice cream which we devoured.

It was one of the best offerings of summer, ranking right up there with the penny candy we purchased at the store on North Avenue.

Those memories flooded my thoughts this week as I learned about the closing of the Island Dairy Treat, one of the few places that remained in operation from the time I was born, right up to the present, though it had changed hands a few times.

It was a staple of our childhoods, much like the Federated Church next to it which, back then, was separated from the dairy treat by the old junior high school, a brick building where I attended eighth grade.

Sydney Curtis serves a customer Sept. 23, 2020, at Island Dairy Treat at 23 Island Ave. in Skowhegan. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel file

My family attended the Federated Church, where we kids were enrolled in Sunday school. My sisters and I were members of the junior choir and walked after school to choir practice with Mrs. Appleby, the director who was a treat in herself. She was kind, had a pretty voice, taught us to sing alto and soprano and outfitted us in maroon robes with white bells at the collar.

Some of my classmates attended the Methodist church across the street, located next to the fire station. Our ministers were friends and since both were Protestant churches, we sometimes would go on church picnics together.

The Federated Church is still in operation, but the Methodist church was torn down long ago and a new one built across town. The old junior high was razed when the new high school was built on West Front Street in the 1970s, and the former high school, which stood on the long hill overlooking the river in view of the dairy treat, also was demolished.

The island was a focus for us kids. We had to cross it to get to high school, often congregated around the dairy treat on warm days and loved to hang out on the swinging bridge behind it that spanned the river from the island to Alder Street. My friend, Diane, lived on that street and she and I would trek across the bridge, which literally swung to and fro from the movement. Some kids made it swing harder and faster by pushing back and forth. On hot days, they climbed onto the wood railing, stood tall and dove into the water below.

Traffic passes the former Island Dairy Treat, left, Monday at 23 Island Ave. in Skowhegan. The business, which opened in 1952, has closed. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

After I grew up, moved away and returned for visits, I’d stop at the Island Dairy Treat, one of the few businesses in town that never seemed to change much and was always there. Even now in the summer, we stop, buy a treat, sit at the picnic tables by the Kennebec and watch the cars traverse the south channel bridge.

The families who ran the dairy treat over 72 seasons were friendly and welcoming. You never saw an unhappy customer because ice cream always seems to make people smile.

The new owners of the building say they intend to lease it to another ice cream vendor, and I hope that proves true. It’s a tradition that has long served the community well, and it’d be awfully sad to see it end.

Amy Calder has been a Morning Sentinel reporter 35 years. Her columns appear here Saturdays. She is the author of the book, “Comfort is an Old Barn,” a collection of her curated columns, published in 2023 by Islandport Press. She may be reached at acalder@centralmaine.com. For previous Reporting Aside columns, go to centralmaine.com.