Ice Cream Mixer Machine

Wing Luke Museum Collection 2012.056.003

Sunday July 18 is National Ice Cream Day! This mixer for malts and milkshakes comes from Kay’s Café in Olympia, Washington. Kay’s Café was started by Jeni Kay Fung’s family in 1940. She shares, “In the heart of the Depression, my father had to work in a variety of establishments – including a restaurant in Seattle called the Hankow Café on Jackson Street. [My mom] felt kind of helpless, being in Olympia and not being able to do well with the family, so she decided she was going to open a restaurant all on her own, with the help of three kids, three of us... She said that if we opened the restaurant and we took a storefront and if we could do 20 dollars' worth of business a day and feed ourselves, we could do okay – we could make out. This was our own family restaurant called Kay’s Café.” 

We raise an ice cream scoop to all the family-owned businesses that delight us with ice cream treats, enliven our communities, and support our families. Where will you head to celebrate National Ice Cream Day?