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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Noise controversy over the city's mobile vendors has not kept customers from lining up to buy ice cream from ice cream truck operator Tamer "Tim" Akbulut this summer, he said.

Ice cream man Tamer "Tim" Akbulut prepares a vanilla swirl cone inside his truck on Wednesday. - Danielle Sachs/NNSL photo

After complaints were raised about the melodies played from the truck on Calder Crescent, Akbulut has changed his operating schedule and evening-time routing, he said, but the changes have not resulted in any loss of clientele.

"After the issue with the gentleman from Calder Crescent, I decided to take shorter work time," Akbulut said, describing the changes as "OK."

"I play music and the children come running," he said.

The number of sunny days is more important to his business than the popularity of his sound system, he said, noting he sees a 50 per cent rise in ice cream sales when the sun is out and the temperature goes above 20 C.

"Yellowknife has lots of sunny days," he said. "This is important for ice cream."

Akbulut has been selling ice cream and slushies from his truck for the past five years.

In response to this year's noise complaints, long-time customers, including a Balsillie Court resident who approached Yellowknifer last Tuesday, have voiced support for the ice cream truck and its service.

"The residents of Balsillie Court are happy to have the ice cream truck," she said, asking not to be named. "He can come by anytime."

She added children in the neighbourhood get "excited" when the ice cream truck comes by - a reception that makes Akbulut enjoy his ice cream truck job more than his all-year job driving a taxi.

"The kids are just always smiling, excited," he said. "That's why it's more enjoyable and easy to work."

As resident David Prichard recently noted in a letter to the editor, the vendor's sound system has changed over the seasons, with tunes including "a dreadful rendition of Turkey in the Straw," and La Cucaracha.

Akbulut now plays a steady stream of lullaby music, because he said it is "less irritating," but said he is open to calls to change the music of his sound system for future seasons.

The ice cream truck now drives through neighbourhoods in the city and surrounding communities between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., Akbulut said - a departure from his usual schedule which in past years has stretched to as late as 9 p.m.

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