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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Lovers of delicious ice cream cooled off with frozen treats in droves during a hot streak last month, vendors say.

Sheyla Cook, 6, enjoys a cool treat in front of Tamer Akbulut's ice cream truck on July 1. - Thandiwe Vela/NNSL photo

Despite a cold snap at the beginning of June and a wet ending for the month, soaring temperatures in the middle of June kept business for ice cream vendors booming.

"June was a good month," ice cream truck driver Tamer "Tim" Akbulut said, estimating his sales go up at least 50 per cent whenever the temperature rises above 20 C.

This year, there were 13 days with temperatures more than 20 C in June, according to Environment Canada records, including a dozen rainless days in a row starting June 14, with clear sunny skies, and highs above 18 C. The dry streak temperature peaked at 28.8 C on June 22.

"We sell ice cream the whole year round but when the weather gets hot, we sell a lot more," downtown Reddi Mart Village owner Qui Pham said. Their sales also double when the temperature goes above 20 C, Pham said, noting they were running out of cases of 20-litre bags of ice cream that would regularly last a week, in three days during the hot streak.

Resident Annette Cook said she was going to Reddi Mart Village every other day with her six-year-old daughter Sheyla, for some ice cream and a slushy for herself, to beat the heat.

"It cools you off," Cook said, shrugging off the mounting frozen treat expenses. "It beats being hot all day."

Akbulut said the 50 per cent increase in ice cream sales, which would see him sell about 100 cones in one day compared to about 50 on a regular day, also applies for special events.

"June is usually the best month for events," he said, listing the fair that recently came to town and Aboriginal Day as top sales days.

As Akbulut makes his regular rounds through the city May through September, sales gradually go down, as people lose enthusiasm over his daily visits, he said.

Pham says their ice cream sales are steady throughout the year, with people coming in for their soft serve cones, snow jos, sundaes and flurries even when it's 30 C below.

"That's because we have the best ice cream in town," Pham said.

On the other hand, the weather also caused some merchant losses at the beginning of June, as a cold snap forced at least one street vendor to close shop.

"Usually Friday is our busiest time but today we had half of the crowd," One of a Thai co-owner Sousanh Chanthalangsy said, about the decision to shut down early amid flurries and temperatures feeling below zero with the wind chill.

Average temperatures for the month of July are slightly warmer than June in Yellowknife, according to Environment Canada, with a monthly average high of about 21 C.

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