Cedric Armstrong operates the family ice cream business that his grandmother started 116 years ago. His grandmother sold vanilla ice cream from a wooden cart that she pulled around Frederiksted. Cedric's father took over making and selling ice cream in 1942. He sold it from his bicycle until the early 1960s when he bought a car and began to sell it from his trunk. In 1963, they set up a make-shift shop where they hand cranked ice cream until 1970 when an electric powered batch freezer was purchased. After a few years they purchased a truck and sold ice cream every Saturday where Sunny Isle Shopping Center is currently located.
Armstrong's familiar truck can still be seen there on Saturdays from 1PM till 5PM. Cedric took over the family business in 1991 and opened Armstrong's Homemade Ice Cream and Deli at the current location. It was easy to get there by the bus. We decided to try it with hopes of tasting the best selling flavor, gooseberry. Other flavors they do have are almond, banana, peanut, ginger nut, pineapple, pumpkin, mango, butter pecan, and during the agriculture fair they offer guava berry. Cones were $2.50 for one scoop. Of course, the day we went, they did not have gooseberry. We had something else and made another trip to try the gooseberry. It was a vanilla base with a few gooseberries mixed in. Some still had the pit inside. Interesting, but not sure why the hype.
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