The Windmill Ice Cream Shoppe

Answer: In the top of the tower is an electric motor that drives a gearcase. The gearcase is connected to an axle that runs outside the building and turns the hub of the aluminum windmill. Up until 2005, the blades were made of wood. A windstorm tore off one of the blades, so we decided to go with a stronger, lighter material as a replacement.

Answer: It shouldn't be any surprise that The Windmill customers follow the industry trends when it comes to favorite ice cream flavors. Vanilla is consistently our #1 seller, followed by chocolate.

Answer: Flavors change from season to season, based on what our suppliers decide to produce. Sometimes there are limited run "feature flavors" that are only available in certain months. Less popular flavors are discontinued over time. Usually new, more exotic flavors are tested and put into production based on demand.

As for the flavors available at any point in time in our 16-flavor dipping cabinet, we try to follow these guidelines:

Always have: Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, a cherry flavor (Run Cherry, New York Cherry, or Black Cherry), a nut flavor (Maple Nut, Butter Pecan, or Praline Pecan), a peanut butter flavor, a mint flavor (Grasshopper, After Dinner Mint), a low sugar flavor, two kids' flavors (Superman, Blue Moon, Cotton Candy, or Bubble Gum), and a sherbet (Rainbow, Raspberry, or Orange).

The remaining flavor slots are based on what is available in our inventory, but we try to balance the base flavor, nut content, fruit, and other ingredient variables so we have something for everyone.

Answer: There are many reasons that it doesn't make sense for us to stay open all 12 months of the year. Since we are predominantly an ice cream shop, the demand for our main products decreases with the outside thermometer readings. The building is not insulated enough to keep heated efficiently. We rely a lot on high school and college age employees who become more busy with classes and extracurricular activites once school starts. Like most of the other ice cream places in the area, we "hibernate" for a few months to get ready for the next season.

Answer: We accept applications for a limited number of positions. The job requires someone who can stand for long periods of time, who has arm strength to handscoop hard ice cream, who is clean, friendly, and respectable to customers, who can find constructive things to do when there are no customers, who can work with or without direct supervision, who can handle money accurately, and who is trustworthy, responsible, and gets along well with others. You get to meet very interesting people from all over Wisconsin, the USA, and the world.