Williamstown's Lickety Split Closes

By Phyllis McGuireSpecial to iBerkshires
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Residents craving ice cream were greeted with this sign in the window of Lickety Split since Nov. 1.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Rumors began flying this summer but now what the Williams College community and town folk dreaded has come. Lickety Split on Spring Street has closed.

The beloved ice cream shop closed its doors at the end of October but owner Robin Kanelos said she expects the restaurant to reopen in a new location. However, that location is still unknown after the Kanelos' lease expired.

Kanelos did not wish to expand further on the shop's closing but when contacted in September, she said she intended to return to Spring Street. She declined to reveal what steps, if any, she is taking in that direction nor would she say why she was not renewing her lease or if she had even been given an opportunity to do so. The building's owner, Mark Paresky, has not been available to comment.

Recently, Kanelos mentioned that Williams College is helping her find a space to reopen Lickety Space. The only available space on Spring Street as of this moment is 32 Spring St., which was occupied by McClelland's until 2009.  But rumor has it that something else may be opening up on the street.

Loyal patrons of  Lickety Split, the shop best known for its delicious ice cream, including the popular Purple Cow flavor, are more than disappointed that their supply has literally been cut off. One Williams student spoke of the closing of the shop as an "atrocity" and the wife of a faculty member has vowed not to patronize any other ice cream vendors on the street.


The Lickety Split location at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art is still open.

In September, Kanelos made it clear that since she assumed ownership of the Williamstown Lickety Split eleven years ago, she has operated the business independently of Lickety Split at Mass MoCA.  

"My sister and her husband own the Lickety Split at Mass MoCA," she said.
 
Though mystery continues to shroud the fate of the cozy eatery that offered snacks, soups, sandwiches and salads as well as ice cream, iBerkshires will be sleuthing until it can report the opening of a re-incarnated Lickety Split.


*iBerkshires reporter Andy McKeever also contributed to this article.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Williamstown Volunteer of the Year Speaks for the Voiceless

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff

Andi Bryant was presented the annual Community Service Award. 
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Inclusion was a big topic at Thursday's annual town meeting — and not just because of arguments about the inclusivity of the Progress Pride flag.
 
The winner of this year's Scarborough-Salomon-Flynt Community Service Award had some thoughts about how exclusive the town has been and is.
 
"I want to talk about the financially downtrodden, the poor folk, the deprived, the indigent, the impoverished, the lower class," Andi Bryant said at the outset of the meeting. "I owe it to my mother to say something — a woman who taught me it was possible to make a meal out of almost nothing.
 
"I owe it to my dad to say something, a man who loved this town more than anyone I ever knew. A man who knew everyone, but almost no one knew what it was like for him. As he himself said, 'He didn't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of.' "
 
Bryant was recognized by the Scarborough-Salomon-Flynt Committee as the organizer and manager of Remedy Hall, a new non-profit dedicated to providing daily necessities — everything from wheelchairs to plates to toothpaste — for those in need.
 
She started the non-profit in space at First Congregational Church where people can come and receive items, no questions asked, and learn about other services that are available in the community.
 
She told the town meeting members that people in difficult financial situations do, in fact, exist in Williamstown, despite the perceptions of many in and out of the town.
 
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