To tell the story of shaved ice is, in many ways, to tell the story of the United States. From our humble beginnings of independence to growth as a titan of industry, shaved ice, as unassuming as it might be, is the line that traces our country’s history through the centuries. And it all starts with the relationship between Florida and ice. In the 1850s, the American Industrial Revolution made ice commercially available throughout the United States. The demand for ice was rampant, especially in Florida, to which ice houses in New York would send wagons full of large blocks of ice. The transport route passed through Baltimore, where children would eagerly wait for the wagons to roll through town to ask for a small scraping of ice. It wasn’t long before mothers caught on and began making flavoring in anticipation of ice wagons rolling through, thus creating the modern day snow cone. Fast forward to nearly a century later in 1930s New Orleans, when the first ice-shaving machines were built, birthing the sno-ball, a distant cousin of the ever popular snow cone. Unlike the granular, crunchy texture of snowcone, the sno-ball is made of finely shaved ice and flavored sugar syrup and often paired with condensed milk and ice cream for a much fluffier, snow-like consistency. 

The treat has remained a regional delicacy in the Deep South, enduring through the Great Depression all the way to the 21st century, its popularity spurred on by its cheap cost and sweet taste. Today, a pair of Sarasota natives are bringing the New Orleans staple to Florida’s Gulf Coast with their food-truck business Krewe Du Sno-ball. “I lived in New Orleans for three years after graduating from college,” says Kabrena Williams, who runs the business with her husband Jabari. “One of my favorite things to do in New Orleans was to get snowballs–snowball season starts right before Mardi Gras and ends around early October. Every Sunday, I’d meet up with friends and go out for snowballs and when I moved back to Sarasota I missed having that experience.”

Much like the wagons trundling ice down to Florida during the Industrial Revolution, the Williams’ mission to bring authentic sno-balls to Sarasota has been a labor of love. Krewe Du Sno-ball–or “crew of” snowball, named after the floats in the Mardi Gras parade–was established in 2020 and quickly ran into several obstacles. “Starting the business was difficult to say the least,” says Jabari. “We brought the truck from the old Baltimore Snowball Factory here in town, everything looked great, the setup was pretty close to what we needed, but a couple of days later someone broke into the truck and stole all of the equipment. A couple of months later, Kabrena got laid off from her full-time job and the project got set on the back burner.” Eventually, the Williams were able to purchase a new truck, build it out from the inside and get to work on what really counted: serving up delicious, one of a kind snowballs. Their menu is vast–with over 40 base flavors including mango, wedding cake and dutch apple pie. With add-ons such as vanilla ice cream and coconut flavored condensed milk, the options are virtually endless. “What I love most about it is just seeing the reaction people have when they try a snowball for the first time. Their faces just transform into the biggest smile,” says Kabrena. “We use a machine that shaves the ice down really thin so that it just melts in your mouth. We recommend the toppings because they’re just so complimentary–in New Orleans they like to put the ice cream on top of the snowball, but we like to stuff it in the middle with the condensed milk drizzled overtop.” 

Now, the Williams are onto their next challenge: finding a permanent home for Krewe Du Sno-Ball. Both Kabrena and Jabari work full time, limiting their availability to mostly weekends and holidays throughout the year. “The hardest part has been finding somebody to allow us to set up in a permanent location,” says Jabari. “We get non stop calls asking us where we’re going to be and in response to that, we’ve sat down and made it our goal to work towards opening up a store front location and running Krewe Du Sno-Ball as a full time venture.”