It’s been a long-term dream of Jennifer Raimey to own a small business and she’s always loved ice cream. When she learned that Downtown Dairy Treats was to be sold, she knew it was the perfect small business for Raimey and her husband, Brad to purchase.

“It was something local that you could use not only as a business to provide for your family but also as a way to get plugged into the community and use as a platform to do more for the community,” she said.

Originally from Atlanta, the Raimey family relocated to Lincolnton two years ago.

“When we first moved here, Downtown Dairy Treats was one of the first places we discovered,” she said. “It quickly became a staple. We’d come multiple times a week with the girls, enjoy ice cream and hang out. I fell in love with it. The overall feel when you’re in here is positive. When we found out that Chad (Scott) was interested in selling it, I didn’t think twice about it.”

Raimey said that she wanted to make sure that whomever bought the business would carry on the torch that Scott had started.

“Chad did such an amazing job creating and growing this business,” she said. “The ice cream mega bus is ours as well. Chad kept the monster ice cream truck.”

Not much has changed in the store, the Raimeys have upgraded some of the electrical, plumbing and equipment in the building and all of the employees are now ServSafe Certified. 

“We brought in a few new flavors,” she said. “We have Tony’s and Mayfield Ice Cream and Italian ice.”

As soon as it’s open, Raimey is hoping to carry ice cream from Riverbend Creamery in Lincolnton.

“The goal is to support other local businesses,” she said. “Even though Mayfield is not local, it’s delivered by Haynes Dairy which has a long history in Lincolnton. Much of the fruit we use comes from Burton’s Farm. We want to be as close as farm to table as we can.”

Due to the COVID pandemic, all of the games at Downtown Dairy Treats cannot be used until North Carolina enters into phase 3.

“I hate to tell children ‘I’m sorry you can’t play the games,’” she said. “I’d rather tell them sorry now than to have them get sick and it be my negligence. We care about the safety of our customers.”

To help the community, Raimey has started a backpack collection for students at Battleground Elementary School where she’s on the PTO. 

“As we all know, school’s going to look different this year,” she said. “Battleground is a Title 1 school and they have a lot of students and families who don’t have a lot. Normally what we would do is a supply drive, but unfortunately, students won’t be able to use common area supplies, they’ll all need to have their own.”

Raimey’s goal is that every student at Battleground who needs a backpack full of school supplies gets one. Community members can either donate a backpack pre-filled or donate $15 and Raimey will shop and build the backpack. Her goal is to build 130 backpacks and she’s more than halfway there.

“It’ll be nice to know every kid that needed something on day one will have what they need,” she said. “It’s going to be a tough year for the students and teachers, and this will be one less thing that these kids to worry about. When I took over the PTO, that was my goal, to make sure every student, teacher and parent are ministered to and taken care of.”

For more information on donating for Backpacks for Battleground, visit Downtown Dairy Treat’s Facebook page, stop into the shop which is located at 212 North Aspen Street in Lincolnton or call (704) 240-3335.