Kona Hawaiian Shaved Ice Truck Coming to Crystal Lake this Summer

Crystal Lakers will see - and hear - a colorful new "ice cream" truck cruising the streets this summer.

Kona Ice of McHenry County will be bringing its Hawaiian Shaved Ice truck to the city streets. The colorful truck, equipped with a Bose sound system, plays Calypso music and offers hundreds of shaved ice flavor options.

The Crystal Lake City Council on Tuesday night approved Kona Ice of McHenry County's request for an ice cream vendor license. The company plans to operate one truck within the city limits. 

"We do a lot of fundraising events," owner Sherry Ravagnie, accompanied by her husband Scott, told council members. "We go to sports events, daycares. Night-time is our filler work."

The Ravagnies, of Huntley, told Patch last fall that Kona offers families an affordable selection of cool treats ranging from $2 to $5. The truck can make over 300 shaved ice cones in one hour.

The difference between a snow cone and shaved ice: a snow cone is made up of little ice pellets while shaved ice is literally like snow flakes. Customers choose their own flavors from Kona’s patent Flavorwave located on the side of the truck.

Kona has hundreds of flavors, from standard cherry flavor to dill pickle to tiger’s blood. A popular flavor is strawberry coconut. There are also two sugar-free flavors.

In granting the license, city council members had to slightly modify the existing ordinance to allow for Kona's truck, which is 11 inches higher, 7 inches wider, and 46 inches longer than current code allowed, city documents show.

Crystal Lake code permits the issuance of only three ice cream vendor licenses in the city, and each company can only operate two vehicles. Last year, only one ice cream endor sought a license, according to city documents.