“I don’t read what people say on the internet, but when somebody showed me that post and all the nice things people were saying about me, it made me so happy I cried! I mean, what are you supposed to do? I was locking up and my card machine wasn’t working—and a kid looks up at you and wants an ice cream cone? The next decision is about what your priorities are, and mine are kids.
I’m 81 years old—you’d think someone my age should be fishing or on the golf course. But I wanted to give kids a place to go and have fun! You see, I grew up in this neighborhood, over on 14th and Van Bueren. You name it and you could get it here on Columbus Street! Kids could walk to any one of the bakeries and get a hot glazed donut and then over to City Dairy, or find a shop and pay a penny for a piece of candy.
But those places are closed now. We have restaurants, but kids don’t want to go to restaurants. Kids want a place they can walk to, get something with the money they have, have fun, and then leave.
That’s why I’m here. Places like this give kids and families something to do, and that’s why I do it—for the kids! I don’t want to make a million dollars. I’m here for the people, not for me. Let me tell you, it’s not for me! Kids should have a place to go. Families should have a place they can take their kids.
I’m not serving ice cream—I’m serving people. Giving kids and families a place to go and something fun to do…that’s what I love the most.”
- Dale Robert Johnson, Buddy's Columbus Cone in Bay City
“Jamie’s Dippy Whip closed and I bought their equipment because it was the only place in the neighborhood the kids had to go. I said that I’d hold onto the equipment to see if a spot opened up on Columbus Avenue.
I sat on the equipment for two or three until I got a call that this building was available, and I moved in. That was in 2020, so this is our fourth year. I don’t want to make a million dollars, and even if I wanted to, you can’t do it selling ice cream. Maybe you could by raising the prices, but this is a neighborhood thing and you’ve got to look at the neighborhood. If I raised my prices, kids and families couldn’t afford it and they would come here.
When I was growing up in this neighborhood, you could get a piece of candy for a penny, fill a bag for three, or get something from a bakery for a nickel.
But today, where can a kid go and get something for 50 cents? They can here. If that’s all they’ve got, they can come here and grab a bag of popcorn. If they ain’t got the money on ‘em, I’ll tell ‘em to grab a bag and get going.
As a business, you can’t don’t that all the time, and if somebody told me back in the 60s that one day I’d be running an ice cream shop, I would have laughed at them.
But the reaction you get from kids when you do something like that—that’s why I do it.”
- Dale Robert Johnson, Buddy's Columbus Cone in Bay City
“I started the Birney Park Car Show 33 years ago because I thought the neighborhood needed some help.
I was into classic cars. My first one was a 1955 Chevy Bel Air, light blue with automatic transmission. Then I got a 1967 Ford Falcon; some guy was in the service and he told his mom to sell it, so I bought it. Then I bought a 1967 Camaro from General Motors, where I worked, and that one I still got.
Anyway, the deal was that they were having trouble with Birney Park. A guy came over to me and asked, ‘What can we do to clean up the park and help the area?’
I said, ‘Let’s do a car show.’
‘A car show?’ he said.
I told him it would be the perfect place because a lot of the car shows you go to, people have to stand on hot, black asphalt. But at Birney Park, people would be on the grass and around all the trees the park had back then.
So we started the car show with 30 cars. Now, we’re up to sometimes 200 cars! It’s in September, the weekend after the holiday. In the last two years, I finally got a couple sponsors, but before that, I was just digging into my pockets.
You have to come and see it! It’s another thing families can do.
Now, let’s make you that banana split!”
- Dale Robert Johnson, Buddy's Columbus Cone
