IRON MOUNTAIN, Mich. (WZMQ) – In Dickinson County today, dozens gathered for an ice cream social under the Umbrella Art Installation in Iron Mountain, thanks to the effort of First National Bank and Trust.
Cindy Gustafson, a wealth advisor for the bank, organized an ice cream social that attracted the crowd to the overhead art attraction.
“This year, we asked the Ice Cream Barn to provide our ice cream, and they’ve done that quite well,” she shared. She said a few people asked where the cows were at the event, hoping the Ice Cream Barn cows could join in on the fun. “Unfortunately, we could not bring the cows,” she laughed. “But we did want to feature the umbrellas this year because that’s been a big attraction for the community,” she added.
The umbrellas are a feature brought in by the Iron Mountain Downtown Development Authority earlier this year, thanks to a mini-grant that the DDA won through a community vote. The umbrellas will be a rotating art project, with each set of umbrellas being featured for about 2 years before rotating to something new. The umbrellas will come down as fall approaches, and new umbrellas will go up in the spring.
The Ice Cream Barn provided 16 flavors of ice cream to choose from, and the event even featured a prize wheel that people could try their luck with. The bank is focusing on customer appreciation, and this is the first ice cream social the bank has hosted in about five years.
“It was before COVID; I know we had one cookout, I think, since then. Kids love it—really young and old alike. We get a variety of ages, and everybody seems to have a good time. Well, most people like ice cream,” shared Cindy Gustafson, a wealth advisor who organized the entire event.
The bank started an events committee just this year to bring back more events and community gatherings. Gustafson informed that in the past, the ice cream socials have been quite popular, and today’s event had a great turnout.
The First National Bank and Trust will be rolling out more fun events come this fall, and into the holiday season.
“We usually do something at Christmastime; inside the bank, we typically have cookies,” she shared, adding, “just to show our appreciation to our customers because without them, we wouldn’t be here. So we like to give back, not only to the customers but to the community in general. Of course, we get a lot of community members who come to the different events we volunteer at.”
The bank is planning an upcoming Trunk-or-Treat this fall for kids to dress up for around Halloween, and then the bank plans to volunteer in the Christmas walk again this year. “As employees, we’re actually asked to volunteer for these events. People love to do it and give back to the community. So we have a lot of employees involved in these community events,” stated Gustafson.
