Sparky's Homemade Ice Cream

Sparky’s is a downtown fixture that Vox Magazine describes as well known to Columbians for unique flavors, switched up often enough to keep people coming back, inside a room hung with eccentric paintings and irreverent touches. The shop takes its name from owner Scott Southwick’s white bulldog, whose statue still sits outside. Manager Anthony Layson traces the crowds to 2011, when a limited-edition flavor made from that summer’s cicadas went viral and turned the Ninth Street shop into a stop for curious visitors.

Picks from Vox Magazine

Sparky’s sells scoops from a Ninth Street storefront that Vox Magazine describes as well known to Columbians for unique flavors, switched up often to keep people coming back, in a room hung with eccentric paintings. Manager Anthony Layson says the crowds date to 2011, when a limited-edition flavor made from that summer’s cicadas went viral. A single scoop keeps the stop cheap, and the flavor board changes enough that a regular order is hard to settle on.

Picks from Inside Columbia and Vox Magazine