people's pops

21st Century Capitalists, and Proud

2012-02-27T15:16:00.009-05:00

It’s a very short step from pickles to ice pops, at least in Brooklyn, so we read with great interest Adam Davidson’s recent economics column in the NYT, “Don't Mock the Artisanal Pickle-Makers,” about the post-industrial, post-recession move in certain sectors towards a craft-centered economy.

Yes, as the author says, “it’s tempting to look at craft business as simply a rejection of modern industrial capitalism.” Dave, Joel and I went into business together because we wanted an alternative to corporate jobs, the liberty of being our own bosses, of shaping our own lives, and of making decisions led as much by principles as they are by economics. But when Davidson says, “It would break their heart to be called model 21^st-century capitalists,” he’s wrong. To us, there is no higher compliment. To be able to lift our business out of the artisanal ghetto into the realm of consequence, resonance and profitability is a dream that, with much hard work, is slowly coming true.

Don’t get me wrong—I venerate artisans, embrace locavorism, and spend as much on the handmade and humble, whether it’s jewelry or goat’s milk cajeta, as any Brooklyn hipster. But I challenge the dichotomy created by a small-is-beautiful, big-is-bad worldview. Companies such as Chipotle, Organic Valley and Whole Foods are showing us that you can mass-produce responsibly, that you can empower all levels of people within a large corporation, and that there’s a huge and growing audience for consciously sourced goods.

In fact, it’s snotty, fallacious and unworkably purist to believe otherwise. If we at People’s Pops can continue to source our fruit from nearby farms, supporting our local ecology and economy, but we are making 100 times more pops than we are making now and they are still as delicious, is that still a good thing?

We think it is.

If we can provide 50 more jobs than we did when we started, but our cherries get pitted by machines rather than by humans, is that still a good thing?

We think it is. (You probably would too, if you’d ever spent entire days pitting cherries by hand while your brain slowly rotted.)

And why do we have to trade profit for satisfaction? If our product is terrific and enough people buy it, we and our employees can be happy and prosperous. Isn’t that good too?

Bring it on, Davidson. Say it loud! We are 21st century capitalists, and proud!!

pitting cherries artisanally

People's Pops Vision Quest

2012-01-10T18:05:00.006-05:00

As small-business owners, we spend a lot of time scrutinizing and discussing other businesses. What makes walking into Buvette, Do or Dine, or Porsena so heart-warming? What specific elements render the Hotel Saint Cecilia so magical? What puts Costco at the top, and Wal-Mart at the bottom, of employee-happiness rankings, even though they’re in the same business?

One of the organizations I’ve most admired over the course of my biz-ucation is Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which opened thirty or so years ago as a Jewish deli and has now grown into a “community” of 13 businesses (coffee roaster, cheesemaking dairy & publishing house, to name a few), still based in Ann Arbor. These peeps take corporate culture creation to another level, so I read founder Ari Weinzweig’s “A Lapsed Anarchist's Approach to Building a Great Business” with deep and abiding interest, marking up my copy until it was more ink than paper. Then I sent copies to Dave & Joel.

Last month, having spent enough daiquiri-sipping beach time to have gathered a modicum of perspective on our 2011 season, we got together for a “visioning” exercise that the book describes. Before meeting, we each spent an hour individually painting the most positive shape we could imagine our business morphing into in five or ten years, if everything we did from now til then went absolutely perfectly. Then we shared our visions.

A small business can either run you, or you can run it. There are so many daily fires to fight that years can elapse before you lift your head and take stock of where you’ve ended up. The point of the visioning exercise is to set down goals and chart a course to them, allowing you to move ahead proactively rather than reactively.

To no one’s surprise, our visions matched very closely. Even the three of us had never formally “visioned” together before, we’ve spent enough time discussing and debating our philosophies and dreams for them to have meshed into ones we hold collectively, and our business is very much a child of that. Despite that, it feels really good to set our sights on a landmark ahead, instead of adrift in an infinite sea.

It’s hard work, analyzing who you want to be (and, just as importantly, who you don’t). But that’s what gives organizations like the Saint Cecilia and Zingerman’s their identity, and determines why the people who work there care and love it.

The harder work is still ahead, though: holding ourselves to that vision and executing it.

End of Season 4

2011-11-03T17:00:00.006-04:00

After a little bit of this....

(yes we did sell pops when it was SNOWING, never again please)

We did a little bit of this....

(closing down the shops for the season)

Tomorrow, there'll be a little bit of this...

(Joel & Danielle GET MARRIED!!!!)

and then, we'll all experience a little bit of this...

Thanks for another GREAT season, y'all!

We're out!

(keep in touch....lots of good stuff brewing.......)

Season ends soon!

2011-10-08T16:25:00.008-04:00

And now, a little poetic interlude....

Summertime came and went

But thanks for all the times well spent!

Unfortunately our time is almost through

Making our delicious ICE POPS for you!

So stock up now, while you still can

Before everything's packed away in our People's Pops van....

The fabulous Christine wrote this poem to commemorate the end of our *fourth* season, which mostly ends Oct 15, although we'll stay open in Chelsea Market until Halloween.

We're sad to go. This summer's been amazing! Our business doubled, our shops tripled, our staff quadrupled. Nathalie's toenail, which turned black from where she dropped an ice block on it in May, has finally grown back to normal. Time flies when you're having fun! Through it all, we kept our eyes on the prize: delicious pops, busy shops, great service, good times.

Who made the times so good? The troopers listed below, our 2011 crack team of perpetually smiling, very sexy, strong-as-oxen ice mongers. I present you:

Rue Snider	Meghan Sebold	Jack O'Brien
Charlie Stopek	Charlie Smith	Christine Wang
Malcolm Barrett	Sharlena Powell	Ben Silbert
Clyde Loving-Cortes	Gasky Joseph	Jaymie O'Brien
Danelle Snider	Katie Traynor	Michael Caglione
Kaitlin Winter	Justin Manley	Brian Austin
Darren Fiorello	Eamonn McMahon	Marilyn Stout

I wish I had a group photo from our midsummer party to post here, but I drank too much to remember to take one. Maybe it's best left undocumented.

But hark! It's a miraculous 80 degrees in New York as I write this (October 8), ideal ice-pop temperature. So why are you reading this? Go out and eat some pops while you still can!

Photo Shoot at Nat's Apartment

2011-08-12T16:21:00.020-04:00

After the high last week of having achieved our lifelong dream of prime real estate on New York Magazine's approval matrix, this week's photo shoot with photographer Jennifer May and prop stylist Alana Chernila was icing on the cake.

Alana transformed my apartment into a prop shop that was everything we'd wished for: stylish, retro, imaginative, whimsical.

Caught mid-photo, the fabulous Jennifer May, with husband Chris in the background.

Lunch break for Korean food from across the street.

Joel putting some finishing touches on a cantaloupe & Campari shot.

Our type of pièce montée.

Blow-drying for the ice-pop equivalent of bed-head, that just-so sheen.

Blueberry & moonshine mise en scène.

Last shot of the day.

Such fun!!

Our last photo day is this Sunday, Aug 14th. Come by the Williamsburg Flea after 3 p.m. in brightly colored clothes--we'll comp your pop if you smile for our picture!

Scenes from the Summer

2011-08-11T00:16:00.002-04:00

Cool fish-eye pic of Clyde at our East Village shop sent by popsi-fan Anna Kelman.

Megan, Sharlena, Katie & Joel getting buck wild in the kitchen while preparing custom pops for Grey Goose Vodka.

East Village People's Pops Cabana Now Open!

2011-07-08T20:57:00.011-04:00

Hours:

5pm-10pm Monday-Wednesday

5pm-midnight Thurs-Friday

noon-midnight Saturday

noon-10pm Sunday

occasionally closed unexpectedly due to rain or flakiness

Dispatches from the People's Pops Email Inbox

2011-06-30T15:53:00.007-04:00

From this week's email exchange, a picture of Nat and Dave at the MAST Academy prom in Miami in May 2000.

Joel responds:

David:

Pop Culture, Indeed

2011-06-30T15:39:00.004-04:00

Has anyone noticed the profusion of pops in mass marketing this summer?

Here's a giant pop at Target, right next to a giant flip-flop.

Here's the window of J. Crew on 5th Ave (it's hard to tell, but the little squares in the backdrop are all ice pops)

Here's Pret a Manger in Union Square.

Anyone else seen examples of this lately?

What's New These Days

2011-06-17T19:58:00.019-04:00

Our lives are moving by so fast that everything is happening in bullet points! (And exclamation marks!!) (And question marks?)

Joel's talented brother made a video of our first day at the Brooklyn Flea this year. It's here...and so convincing that you almost forget everyone is wearing mittens and parkas. Thanks Nate!

We are up on the High Line again for the summer: find us at the "Chelsea Market Passage" (right above 16th St).

We are suuuper psyched about this. If you haven't been on the High Line lately: Part II just opened, and it's absolutely gorgeous. Get thee to it, and after Wednesday 6/22 our Joel-and-Robin-designed new kiosk will also be there to admire.

Besides our own retail outlets, you can also find our pops nesting chez these fine purveyors:

Nolita Mart (Nolita)
Brucie (Carroll Gardens)
Marlow & Daughters (Williamsburg)
Brooklyn Victory Garden (Clinton Hill)
Stinky Bklyn (Carroll Gardens)
Whole Foods (Upper West Side).

For years now we've been turning down folks in Tennessee, Colorado or Florida who want to get their hands on some pops. No more! Anyone further afield and jonesin', take note: the lovely folks at Manhattan Fruitier will now ship people's pops overnight on dry ice. Wooooot!

The other day I randomly noticed that the background pic on Rue's phone was the chalkboard from last year's Chelsea Market shop, where it's been....since last year. We have hired some awesome new people we feel lucky to hang out in the kitchen and on the shop with...but it's pretty great to get the old family back together again, too.

Every summer, the season swallows us in, whirls us around, and (eventually) spits us out. The ride is far from over, but we're optimistic. Our problems may be bigger, but they're better, too. Stay tuned. We have more news coming.

It's Art, Y'All.

2011-05-17T00:22:00.003-04:00

One of our customers helped bring this one-ton block of ice to the Bahamas, where it sat for a year in a clear glass freezer powered by solar panels.

Way to make us feel like wimps, Tavares Strachan.

One-Month Pop-Up in Madison Square Park!

2011-05-05T09:35:00.006-04:00

New Location Opening Today!

We're taking part in a one-month pop-up on the west side of Madison Square Park (Worth Square) from May 6-June 3.

Come see us! Bring your mom!!

Saturday, as always, we'll be at the Brooklyn Flea in Ft. Greene, at this new Mad Sq Mkt pop-up and at our Chelsea Market shop. We'll also be at the New Museum's Festival of Ideas for New York City, vending on Rivington St and Chrystie St.

Sunday (Mother's Day), we'll be at the Brooklyn Flea in Williamsburg, this new Mad Sq Mkt pop-up and at our Chelsea Market shop.

It's gettin' to be summer! Woot woot!

The Real Chelsea Market After Dark

2011-04-26T19:19:00.011-04:00

FACT: people's pops Chelsea Market is open until 9pm Monday-Saturday (Sundays til 7).

FACT: you can legally drink alcohol at our Chelsea Market shop

FACT: BYOB to our Chelsea Market shop and one of our friendly servers will make you a shave ice cocktail mixer. If you don't have any booze handy, stop by Chelsea Wine Vault and pick up some Prosecco.

A few shave ice cocktail suggestions:

watermelon-tequila
peach-champagne
pear-cognac

See you after dark....

2011-04-17T14:48:00.003-04:00

Joel just sent in a pretty (daytime) pic of the shop--we love it! Much love to Robin Hiner, woodworker extraordinaire, and his cool girlfriend Katie.

Wee hours of last night

2011-04-14T12:14:00.011-04:00

The shop in Chelsea Market's looking nearly good to go! This is it circa 6 a.m. Thursday (this) morning.

What does this mean? It means, of course, that full-fledged summer is just around the corner. And to celebrate, we're giving away free shave ice on Day 1 again, 'til supplies run out!

We're in a spot right next to last year's shop, near the doors on 15th St b/w 9th and 10th Ave, by Jacques Torres and Lucy's Whey in the so-called "Arcade." Habitués will know us by the popsicle-stick counter and the big block of ice. Just like last year, we'll be there April til October.

Prices haven't changed ($2.50 for shave ice, $3.50 for pops), and we'll still be vending at our other locations: the Brooklyn Fleas, the New Amsterdam Market, and hopefully the High Line (RFPs are due this week).

Opening flavors:

Blackberry & Sour Cherry

Plum, Yogurt & Tarragon

Blueberry-Jasmine

Strawberry-Basil

Plum & Blueberry

With customers showing up right at our 10 am opening last year for a taste of shave ice, it took just 5 hours to go through 150 pounds of ice--so show up early, say hi, and enjoy a shave on people's pops!

SEE YA THERE!!

!! Chelsea Market Opens Friday !!

2011-04-11T19:55:00.009-04:00

It was a bit of déjà vu when we found ourselves gluing pop sticks to plywood deep into the night this weekend. (Thankfully, this time, Nat wasn't nursing wounds from having been hit by a car earlier that day...viva 2011!)

Even though we were exhausted from a big-bang day at the Brooklyn Flea (we showed up at 9 a.m. in down jackets....and ended up at 5 p.m. sunburnt, sweating and sold out), we stopped by the brand-new brick-n-mortar location of our BkFlea compatriots Asiadog on Kenmare St for sustenance in hot dog form, then zoomed over to our buddy Robin's Greenpoint workshop.

We found our groove pretty quickly and got most of the glueing done that night. Robin's woodwork looks terrific. Now we only have 4,452,236 things left to do before we open on Friday. Stay tuned for more info about the launch!

Brooklyn Flea Debut This Weekend!

2011-03-31T22:17:00.004-04:00

Flavors Fresh Outta the Kitchen:

Blueberry-Jasmine

Strawberry w/ Organic Yogurt

Bartlett Pear, O-Cream and Ginger.

Come taste! Come celebrate! People's Pops 2011 is here!

Summer 2011: not far behind....

Saturday: Brooklyn Flea Ft. Greene

Sunday: all-new Brooklyn Flea Williamsburg Waterfront

FIRST BATCH OF POPS OF THE SEASON!!!

2011-03-30T16:04:00.004-04:00

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG we are back in the kitchen again. After a thorough remodel that included painting the floor, buying new freezers and hooking up unused gas lines, ‘tis the season…for the first pops of 2011! Yes, even though temps are in the flippin’ forties right now.The Brooklyn Flea debuts outside this weekend (as well as the new Williamsburg Flea, woot woot)….and who would recognize the Ft. Greene Flea without people’s pops!?!?!?!?!

We are working with frozen fruit again (from the same farmers from whom we buy in season) and are noting with happiness that even frozen, last year’s fruit is much better than 2009’s—no surprise there, but it’s good to see.

But the biggest upgrade for 2011 is our new, ten-year-old Brazilian pop-making machine—basically an alcoholic brine bath that freezes the pops much faster and, we hope, with more structural integrity.

We are experimenting with different mold shapes and are wondering what y’all think.

There's David with a blueberry-cream. Well, what do you think?!?!??!?!!

Okay, maybe we obsess over this kind of stuff way too much and are the only suckas who notice any difference in shape. (There is a slight one.) Let us know if YOU like it, or if you prefer the old mold shape. We’re still tinkering.

Or come by the Flea this weekend (Saturday or Sunday) to tell us in person….and taste the first people’s pops of 2011!! (Pops make a great accessory to snow.)

It's Still Winter, But We Can Smell Spring

2011-02-22T14:28:00.002-05:00

How utterly relaxing this winter was. After we shut down for the season, David went to Miami and played golf for a couple of months, Joel got engaged to Danielle and laid on the beach in Costa Rica, and I drank schnapps in Alsace and faithfully attended even my most appallingly boring micro-economics classes.

How distant that time now seems. Ever since the clock ticked 2011, we’ve been caught in a whirlwind of master planning. We’ve had a brainstorming session on “risk minimization,” plotting courses of action to navigate through the most debilitating catastrophes our nightmares could produce. We’re looking around for a bank to replace god-awful Chase, who I’m embarrassed after last year’s shit fit to admit we passively stuck with, like abused dogs who keep expecting doggie treats instead of pistol-whipping. We’ve had several exciting conversations about real estate with some potential landlords around town.

The awesome John Goodwin magicked us up an online stock-taking system that lives in the cloud, and we got all of our suppliers on one spreadsheet. We’ve started testing recipes for a book we’re working on. We bought a new van that does not have rust holes in the floorboards. We’re discussing the pros and cons of buying our first cash register and maybe some accounting software (whoo, look at us gettin’ all “modern!”). We are looking into the possibilities of offering ourselves and our full-time employees health care, and for the first time in the history of our lives, we turned our tax paperwork in early.

A lot of the backbone stuff we’re doing is more corporate than we’re used to—setting up structures, building systems, creating strategy and dreaming up super-ordinate goals. But it feels good to get organized, and the way we’re doing it feels right. We’re thinking critically, spending thriftily and making decisions by consensus, like we’ve always done.

And yet—how far we still have to go. We still don’t have a new bank, or real estate, or a cash register, or health care. But we’ve come a long way, and things are trucking forward smoothly. Stay tuned for new developments soon.

People's Pops Parties in Geneva

2010-12-22T14:41:00.002-05:00

In November, Red Jacket Orchards, our favorite fruit supplier, invited us up to the farm in Geneva, New York, for a post-season party. When we got there, they wasted no time in stuffing us with booze and casserole, so much so that we pretty much entirely forgot to take commemorative photos of the experience. We dimly remember a nighttime orchard tour, a sauna right off the dining room, a hot tub with a splendid view of lake Geneva, and a very contrary vending machine in the Ramada Hotel.

Many thanks to our benevolent hosts Joe Nicholson (a 2010 Jordi Top 10 Recipient!), Mike Biltonen, Justone Bossert, Adam Gordon and Wen-Jay Ying for an extremely fabulous time.

as David says: nothing makes you smile like fruit fresh off the tree

Joel, Mike and Adam

cool pattern the forklift made in the snow

we are so psyched!!

We Have Spare Time Now

2010-11-10T23:40:00.001-05:00

It's late at night but what a delight to actually have time to troll the internet for websites like wordle.net that will make pretty word clouds out of our blog's content. Whoo!!

Pained But Proud

2010-10-13T15:00:00.007-04:00

So ladies and gentlemen. Our shop closes on Oct 15 (this Friday) and our last day at the Flea is Saturday, Oct 16. Here we finally are, six months later and 17 years older and — lo and behold—we still have all of our fingers and all of our toes.

Sadly, Joel no longer has any feeling in his fingers. The calluses that formed on his hands as a result of yanking thousands of pops out of their molds, one at a dang time, have become too thick for his nervous system to detect. The good thing about this is that he no longer feels pain, like Ronald Niedermann in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”

For his part, David has lost all feeling in his toes, having deadened his feet from excessive jamming on ghost brakes as Joel performed death-defying deeds like merging and accelerating whilst driving Porky. He is now inured to fear, like Taylor Swift.

And I no longer have a soul. A few weeks ago, I moved to New Orleans to start business school at Tulane and now spend my time mastering the finer points of strategic douchebaggery.

Although the grind and minutiae of the day-to-day often obscured our progress, we really kicked it up a notch this year. Unlike 2008, when we only operated on the weekends and kept somewhat in touch with our day jobs, this year, we dropped everything to man our tiny 170-sq-foot shop for 186 days straight. We fed pops to Alton Brown, George Stephanopolous, Rachael Ray, Sandra Bernhard, Maria the “Money Honey,” Jennifer Garner, the duder from MGMT, and his mom. We led tours of our business for Whole Foods staff, Brigham Young business students and local elementary schools. We had much better weather than last year, when it rained for 28 days in June. We hired some really awesome people and managed to pay them in currency that looked like something other than frozen 3-oz chunks of fruit on a stick. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Working in pops this summer felt like training for a triathlon, only pops were the new world order. Every day we got up weary, prepared for another beat-down: another broken part of the van, another broken part of the freezer, another broken part of our backs. Our days began early and ended late and had far too little beer in them. But there was also an uncommon vigor, an unabashed willingness to get our hands dirty, attention paid to putting out a good product and treating people well, and a belief in all of this as a medium for social/environmental change as well as pleasure.

Ice pops effecting change? Yes, if you think about the tens of thousands of pounds of local fruit used, the tens of thousands of dollars that stayed inside the local economy, and the fact that we were able to employ ten~~s of thousands of~~ good people to further these ends. Ice pops as pleasure? Yes, and the other pleasure was you, popsifans: regular customers like the security guard at the Apple store, the pregnant women who visited daily and talked to her belly as she ate pops, the guy who works upstairs compiling statistics for Major League Baseball, the mysterious man who took 12 pops home in a bag with him almost daily, the trio of chemists from the DEA lab around the corner, the Brooklyn Flea contingent we saw every week, rain or shine.

This summer involved a lot of pain. But it’s been our pleasure. The season's not even over and we're already hatching plans for next year. Despite it all, we can't wait for spring.

xoxoxo,

Joel, David & Nathalie

Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay, Watching the Tide Rooooll Away....

2010-10-01T18:18:00.015-04:00

As Season III of the People's Pops draws to a close, we'd like to do a little reminiscin'.
It seems like far more than eight months ago that.....

We started with this:

Did some of this:

First, it looked like this:

And then it looked like this:

In the meantime, there was a little bit of this:

And a little bit of this:

R.I.P. Shaba.

But we were psyched about this:

(Whole Foods)

And this:

(The High Line)

And this:

(getting a recipe published in Bon Appetit)

And this:

(partnering with Red Jacket Orchards)

And this:

(the free giveaway we put on for the launch of the Cooking Channel)

We did a lot of this:

We couldn't have done without this:

Charlie Stopek

Rue Snider

People's Pops Heart 'n' Soul:
Top row: Nick Moore, Danielle Fillmore, Joel Horowitz, Nathalie Jordi, Rue Snider, Sharlena Powell
Bottom row: David Carrell, Gasky Joseph, Lora Wallace

the surfer girl, 3 years old and going strong

In conclusion:

There are still 2 weeks to go until we shut down Chelsea Market (October 15). Get thee to the pop stand...the winter's gonna be a long one!

Best Fan Mail Ever

2010-08-29T20:26:00.005-04:00

One of the things that's most impressed me about our business over the last 3 seasons is our awesome ratio of fan mail to hate mail. Seriously, when do people ever take the time to write to someone they don't know other than when they're feeling angry, disappointed or stiffed?

Several times a week, though, people write to say they love our pops, and seriously, guys.....that really is what keeps us keepin' on.

We'll say it here: OUR POPSIFANS ARE THE BEST, EVER!

So in the interest of celebrating y'all, see below for some of the best mail of the past 3 summers.

Here's the first-ever letter we got, sent Aug 17, 2008, from a woman who's come pretty much every weekend since:

Hi! Just wanted to drop a note to let you know that you're doing AWESOME things and my boyfriend and I look forward to your popsicles every Sunday. Even when you aren't there!
Thanks, Meredith

Caroline Rogers of the beautiful Looks Good To Me made our day by sending us this gorgeous watercolor she drew from the inspiration of our pops at the DUMBO Flea. The shape is wrong, but I really love the way it looks.

This one made us feel like heroes:

Dear People's Pops,

I am writing to say thank you. I have an ulcer and I'm stuck on the acid reflux diet. Among other things, I can't eat dairy, citrus, chocolate, or spices. This summer has been hard - I'm so jealous when I see people walk around the city with their ice cream cones and cups of fro yo. I've also discovered that most ice pops in the store are made with lemon or lime juice. The only icy treat I've found to eat this summer is vanilla tofutti, which leaves much to be desired.

Long story short, the strawberry rhubarb people's pop I had today SAVED MY SUMMER!

Thank you!!

This rad-looking chick sent us a picture of herself in front of a snowscape. We liked it so much that we put it on the "Who We Are" page of our website.

From a chatty Cathy who befriended David one day....

Hi David,

how are things going?

I checked out the pear pop a few days ago and I loved it!

I am staying at Janos house in Ardley over the weekend (Dr.Janos Marton, director of the Living Museum, Queens), he lives in this incredible old beautiful old Victorian style Villa with dozens of rooms and antique furntiure and a steinway grand piano, and I am enjoying being here sitting on the Veranda surrounded by a huge beautiful magical garden with the smell of wonderful flowers, cardigan birds that are singing for me and others and working on my doctorate...playing in between with three perrot beauties and dogs and cats...life is just amazing......

Tomorrow I will move on to Williamsburg and spend some time in NYC in the evenings....I will go out with a formerly Miss Sweden and stone sculptor tomorrow evening, she fell in love with me and wants to take me out for dinner and then to the prescreening from a movie about Basquiat...how exciting! Friday my plane is going back- I am fullfilled with a lot of NY stories that are engraved in my heart.

Take a close eye onto yourself, keep your buisness running with ambition and passion!

Sincerely

R visiting from Switzerland

Lee Ann from Dallas was psyched:

I live in Dallas and am currently pregnant with our second child and in the middle of awful morning sickness. I am surviving on popsicles, and thinking every day about how wonderful your pops are. So, here's to hoping that you are someday soon in a Whole Foods or other venue within driving distance of Dallas. Until then, you will be a planned stop on all my future trips to NYC. There is nothing like your pops in the stores here..... Keep it up!

Lee Ann

Then there was this puzzling missive:

I had a blueberry and cream pop at the Chelsea Market back in June.

I wish I could have another, but unfortunately, I live many miles from there.

Perhaps I will visit again this summer and have another even though I know it will be a differetn flavor.

And who could forget the German tourist who hand-felted a People's Pop and sent us the photo:

Running a small business is BRUTAL. Every day, we have multiple moments when we wonder why we put up with the aggravation. When you write to tell us you love the pops, though, we remember why we do it, and....this makes everything worthwhile.

So thanks!!

In love & pops,

Joel, David & Nat

ADDENDUM 10/1/10

Following this post, popsifan Lia sent us this sweet pic:

Thanks Lia!!

People's Pops and Red Jacket Orchards, Sitting In A Tree

2010-08-23T00:37:00.006-04:00

If you pinned the fruit season to a mathematical curve, this might be kind of what it would look like. For most of the year, there's zilch--and then all of a sudden, le deluge.

People's Pops to the rescue!! We've teamed up with the heroes at Red Jacket Orchards, our favorite farmers at the NYC Greenmarket, to offer a collaboration that solves this oversupply issue, just in time for the height of summer. Here's how it goes:

Red Jacket sells us whatever fruit is at the absolute peak of its abundant season.
The diligent elves at People's Pops turn the fruit into ice pops (peach-basil, plum-blueberry).
Red Jacket takes the pops to the Greenmarket.
New Yorkers everywhere are seized by an exquisite happiness they can't quite identify the source of...
...until they walk through the Greenmarket and see the SWEET-ASS UMBRELLA shading the lucky pop vendor at the Red Jacket Orchards stands (our elves are jealous).

From now until the fruit runs out, find Red Jacket Orchards' People's Pops at the following Greenmarkets:

Monday: Union Square
Tuesday: Borough Hall
Wednesday: Union Square
Thursday: Bowling Green
Friday: Union Square
Saturday: McCarren Park
Sunday: Midwood.

Is this a marriage made in heaven, or what??

We think so.