Signage to advertise the phenomenon, straws and syrups and flavors and dispensers - all the paraphernalia needed for a successful snow cone business, can be had here. For snow cone supplies online, Gumballs.com can't be beat. Buy snow cone syrup from Gumballs.com and be assured that every order is backed by a wonderful freshness guarantee.

How did Snow Cones Start?

Snow cones got started in Baltimore, due to a fortuitous geographic accident. Back in the mid 1800s, when it all began, ice houses in New York regularly sold ice to places in Florida. The shortest distance between two points being a straight line, the delivery vehicle would pass through Baltimore. There, kids, knowing it would be there, would run out and ask for a small scraping of ice. Just like the truck driver who pulls the horn when kids ask, the ice transporters were similarly indulgent, and would hand out small shavings of ice. Who would miss it, anyways? More than that would melt during the entire trip to Florida, after all.

Over time, people came to predict the arrival of the ice wagons, and mothers made sweet syrup to have on hand to 'dress it up'. The idea grew and took shape as a theater treat among the upper class, until WWII, when no one had any ice cream left stateside, and then everyone ate Shaved, flavored ice as a thrifty treat in the summer.