End of Season 4

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!

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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.

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!

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!