The Community, Connections & Commerce Podcast, presented by OUE & St. Clairsville Chamber - Community, Connections, & Commerce Episode 4 with Kirke Porterfield

Episode Date: August 16, 2024

Welcome back to Community Connections and Commerce. I'm Drake Watson, as always, joined by Wendy Anderson and our special guest, very special guest today, Kirk Porterfield, owner of Kirk's Ice Cream in St. Clairsville. Kirk, it's a pleasure to have you on this morning, and we really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to come spend your time with us, and we couldn't be more excited to get you on this morning. Good morning. I'm glad to be here.

Good. So I want to start, first of all, by talking about, first of all, what you do kind of in general, and then how you got your start and where you kind of came from. Well, we farm. That's probably our number one priority. My family moved here in 1809 and farmed just south of St. Clairsville. And then in 1865, they bought the farm where I'm at now. So that's where I live just northwest of St. Clairsville.

So that's how we started out as farmers. Okay. And still farm. Okay. So where did the ice cream shop come into play? Well, my grandfather, Herb Walker, made ice cream. He started in 1926 over in Coleraine. And then he died in 78.

And in 92, I decided I want to make ice cream. So we built the building where we're at now and just worked real hard and made ice cream. And look at you now. You are absolutely exploding all over the Ohio Valley. Yeah, it really has grown. We just set up a new fella. He has coffees in Parkersburg, Beverly, and Caldwell or McConnellsville. Yeah, he just picked ice cream up yesterday for the first time.

Nice. Wow. Nice. So you've been in it a long time. And the one thing I notice when i go into your shop you employ students and that is your basically your employer base right is right very young people um we always look for somebody a little bit older so when the kids go back to school we have somebody we can open at noon so you want a job wendy noon to. Noon to 2.30. I got one. Okay. I'm good. Well, I was going to ask you about the challenges of scheduling younger students that

have to go to school and also balance that with a job at your place. And then also what you kind of look for out of that. I mean, obviously, I don't know that you're checking grades, but there's a certain kind of person I would imagine that you're wanting to work at Kirk's. Dr. Darrell Bock Yeah, you want somebody that's friendly and outgoing. And Judy does all the scheduling. She works around their schedule, the singers and volleyball and softball. And then the girls always trade schedules, say something turned up and they trade amongst

themselves. They just know somebody has to be there. Gail DePriest Right. And let's, for the audience's sake, Judy is your wife. Yes. My lovely wife. Your lovely wife. Yes. So she's in charge of scheduling, and I know that's a lot for her because these kids have

so much going on. Yeah. The schedule changes a lot. It does. The kids think they know what they're doing, and then all of a sudden the coach or the teacher said, hey, we've got to practice, we've got to do this, and things change. They have to be flexible. So the one thing that I was thinking of, why stay in the Ohio Valley?

What is your reasoning for staying in the Ohio Valley. What is your reasoning for staying in the Ohio Valley? Well, I guess, you know, we've been here, you know, 200 plus years, and the valley's been good to us. We enjoy it. Yeah, no, well, of course, with a farm, it's kind of hard to pack it up and move. But no, I don't know why anybody would want to live anywhere else. I mean, it's just a great place to be. It is. Agreed. And you're kind of different in that way from some of our other guests in that they are from here, and then they've left and looked for opportunities or maybe gotten inspiration to do other things, and then they've come back, and now they're a force in their community.

You've kind of stayed and been a force for a long time, over 30 years. And I tell you, I just compliment the ice cream shop. I live on that road, Uprim Road, and there's nothing better than that first day that you guys are open, walking down there and getting the thing of ice cream and going out to the gazebo. And actually, I want to talk to you about, you know, kind of the decision. Was it your decision to kind of lay things out the way that they are? I mean, it's a certain kind of feel that you get there that you don't really get anywhere else. You don't get it at any kind of – we talk a lot of times

about different corporate places. And now, in recent times, other spots around St. Clairsville and in the Valley, you guys kind of have a different feel, a more at-home feel. Is that by design, or how did that come about? I guess that's just how it worked out. You know, we built a store, and we just had a couple seats inside. And then I think the following year, we built the addition to the west, the seating area.

And then last year, we added on to the east side towards Sheetz for more production. Yeah. So you are also very, let's say, you have volunteerism in your heart and soul. And so you also belong to Rotary. And what other clubs do you belong to? Rotary is probably the biggest one. I guess we started out on the fair board, Belmont County Fair Board. My great-great-granddad was on, my granddad,

my dad, and then I was on for several years. And you just want to give back to the community and help out. And it seems like the more you volunteer, life is better. It is. Now, that's a really great statement. But have you seen a decline in volunteerism over the years, like, and the age of volunteers? What do you see with that? Yeah, I think a lot of the, I guess, just environment that us older folks grew up in, you just, you did more for your church and the community. And now it seems like husband and wife both work, and they're hauling the kids around to different activities,

and they just don't have any free time to do anything. Right. So you give back. So what are the things that you have done in your years at the ice cream store to give back to the community? Probably the most enjoyable, I was on the board of directors for Belco for eight years, and I really enjoyed that. That was a real enjoyable volunteer job. Belco Works. Belco Works, yes.

The St. Clair's Hall? Yeah. So you work with United Way, too. Stacey Stevens, correct? Yeah, we just had a— So what do you do with that? We had a Celebr scooper. Last week had folks in – I think the police chief was from High County was in.

And some radio personalities, TV, attorneys, just good people came in and volunteered an hour of their time. And we donated 100% of the proceeds from the ice cream sales. So I haven't talked to Stacy exactly how much she raised. I know we went through about $2,000 worth of ice cream, but then a lot of people give tips and other donations. So I think it was a pretty big thing and very enjoyable for the folks at United Way. Yeah. I've done that before, and I absolutely – I loved it.

You were supposed to be there this time, but she's in Milwaukee. Yes, I was. Oh, Wendy. Yes, I was. And I missed it because that's one of the things that I look forward to because I love that fun thing that we do with each other. Oh, my God, I can't think of the word. You lost your words? It happens to the best of us.

I know. the best of us i know anyways uh that competition between two rivals if if you say rivals or you know partners and that to me is a lot of fun but you you also you do set up your ice cream you have an ice cream truck too correct yeah we have a ice cream truck we call it the cow van and then we have a trailer that we take out. We have two units. What's your radius? Like how far out do you go? What's the furthest you've ever gone with that?

Well, we go down to New Martinsville once in a while. And we do a lot of the plants, the chemical plants and power plants. Oh, yeah. We do a lot of activities like that. We're up in Brilliant, I think, in a week or two at AEP. You were just at Toronto, too. Yeah, in Toronto. We were in Richmond over the weekend.

Wow. So probably on a 30, 40-mile radius, something like that. Wow. So do you ever come to Wheeling? We just talked on the previous episode about kind of this, you know, seeming divide between St. Clairsville and Wheeling. And, you know, people, there's some hesitancy to go across the aisle or go across the river. And it can really maximize, you just

mentioned New Martinsville. I'm sure you know that it maximizes your opportunities to go across the river and connect with different folks over there. Yeah, we were, last month, we were at Wheeling Downs in the parking lot. They had a fun fest on July 4th. And then I think this coming Friday or the next Friday, they're having another party in the parking lot. So that was a lot of fun. We do a good bit of stuff at the riverfront. Word Oak will be a good bit.

So just wherever they want us, we try to go if we can fit it in our schedule. So you have a large family. Five boys. Yes. So isn't it Mark who's kind of working his way into the ice cream shop? Yeah, the youngest son, he's helping. He does a lot of the production, helps out a good bit, and does a lot of the running and stuff. And right now he's planning on opening up a store in Shadyside. Really?

An ice cream store, yeah. A Kirk's Ice Cream. Mm-hmm. So it would be Kirk's, too, or just? Yeah, Kirk's and Coffee. They're going to do Coffee, too, I think. He wants to do that, so. Nice.

So that should open. Well, you have the architect and you have all the stuff to go through, but hopefully later this fall. So what about your other boys? Brian runs a farm. Kevin runs a fab shop on the farm. And the surprise is Blake, he lives in vietnam i know that is a very interesting story he teaches school over there he's a world traveler i think he was in he's been in 26 countries over the last couple years with nothing but a backpack and his thumb out

hitching a ride so he was back for a couple three weeks and he went back this past weekend he said I'll see you in a year but he really likes it over there he said Vietnam is beautiful the people are nice very little crime little petty theft but yeah no crime no drugs he said you couldn't buy drugs over there if you wanted them really he's really impressed with Vietnam. Lives on the beach. It's beautiful. Well, you know, what struck me was that out of all your kids, four of them has stayed local, has stayed here in the Ohio Valley, in St. Clairsville. And that has to be really make you very proud. Yeah, they're all close. And then Doug, one I didn't mention, he has a small trucking company. He does that out of the farm.

Okay. But, yeah, they like it here. All right. So what would you like to see in the Ohio Valley that we don't have or that we could build upon that we already have? Boy, that's a good question. You know, I really didn't get me stumped. Did I stump you?

It's okay if you can't think of anything. For me, Kirk, we have everything here. Okay. I'm tickled to death. We go to hockey. We go to the football games. There's just a lot of stuff. You've got the Capitol.

You can go see. They have great entertainment, the Capitol, and down at the West Bank Arena. I mean, you always need more jobs, better jobs, I guess. But, yeah, I think life's pretty good here in the Valley. I'm glad you made one of the points you did because there's nobody in this room that's more passionate about high school football than I am. And I want to ask you about how that impacts maybe your sales or kind of how you view Friday nights in the fall. You get a lot of folks come in around five, six o'clock? Darrell Bock No, it doesn't seem like. I don't know.

Actually, Fridays are a pain. Okay, we have cheerleaders. We have kids in a band. We have boys that work for us. Some of them play football. So everybody likes holidays and weekends. Sure. That's where we run into scheduling troubles. Okay. And the prom, graduation, homecoming.

Yeah. I think we'll recruit you, wendy for the next homecoming because i don't think you're going nobody's asked me to the prom so or the homecoming so i think we're safe there um so what is your most popular day sundays sundays are the big day family days yeah yeah sunday is by far the biggest day in the ice cream business. So Judy also has her own little business going on, right? She does catering. A little side hustle. Yeah, she's doing a catering job Thursday for Sheriff Dave Lucas.

They're having an open house at the new dog park. Yep, we're doing a ribbon cutting for them. Yeah, so we're taking ice cream out, and she's making sandwiches and fruit bowls and whatever else she has. So I know personally, firsthand, that she's an amazing caterer. She does an excellent job. She's done a couple things for me, and she's very, very good. So that is really the reason why you added on to the east side of the building? Yeah, to give her a little more room to operate.

But we're kind of crowding her out because the ice cream business is growing faster than I anticipated. Since Mark's been helping, he's been on Facebook and all that other stuff, and I think that's probably – More social media. Yeah, yeah. How many discussions do you have about the efficacy of social media and marketing and everything like that? I mean, it's tough to kind of, I'd imagine, gauge it when it comes to Kirk's Ice Cream in St. Clairsville because everybody knows about it. But if you're trying to reach, you know, maybe that one new family just moved in from Illinois and they don't know anything about it, you know, How many discussions have you had about the effectiveness of that?

Not a lot. He just does it. He just puts stuff on and I don't see it. I just know it's in good hands. I know we've been extremely busy. And Sunday morning I was making ice cream at 5 a.m. Monday morning, I had a wholesale account there at 5.30 a.m. picking up ice cream.

So, yeah, we've been putting a lot of hours in. And so, yeah, he just keeps putting stuff on. That's awesome. And then our mascot, Wilbur the Bulldog. We love Wilbur. Yeah, he's all over the place. So a lot of people come and say, hey, where, Wilbur the Bulldog. We love Wilbur. Yeah, he's all over the place. So a lot of people come and say, hey, where's Wilbur? And I say, well, the health department doesn't like him here at the ice cream store.

But we take him to a lot of the events we do. Unless it's just super hot, he doesn't like the heat too much. Yeah. So what is the favorite ice cream? And what is the least favorite ice cream that you've had? The favorite, there's probably half a dozen. White House, cherry, black raspberry, chocolate, peanut butter, butter pecan, vanilla and chocolate. Cat dog which is cookie dough and Oreos blended together.

That's real popular. Least popular, we probably make orange pineapple maybe once a month. That sounds good. Black Walnut, probably once a month. Really? Chocolates we'll make three or four times a week. Wow. So we keep 40, I think 44, 45 flavors out all the time.

But we have a lot of odd flavors. Not odd, but old flavors. Butterscotch. That you bring back that people remember. That people like. And you can't get a lot of. Banana is very popular. Really?

Banana. Banana peanut butter. And a lady asked me, she said, do you use real bananas in the banana ice cream? And I said, yeah, the plastic ones got real expensive. Darrell Bock Do you have your own personal favorite? Mark Bailey Butterscotch. Darrell Bock Butterscotch, okay. I've been meaning to try that.

I don't think that I ever have. Wendy? Wendy Leveson What's your favorite? Well, okay, mine is his new sweet corn ice cream. Darrell Bock Really? Wendy Leveson Yeah, when I saw Mark mark put it on facebook and at first i thought i don't think so but i tasted it it was amazing what's yours i used to always like the what's it called deer tracks deer tracks deer tracks i used to always get that and i also really like the

black raspberry yeah i think that's my daughter's favorite, too. Yeah, and she likes White House Cherry. That White House Cherry is an old flavor. That was my mom and my grandma. Yeah, that was, from what I can figure, is Dolly Madison. Yeah. Back when she was at the White House. Oh, okay. She was very social, wasn't she? Yeah.

And she liked vanilla ice cream with cherries in it yeah so that's how it came up the name white house or that's a that's a white house that's a story on the street anyway okay all right well we thank you very much for coming in on this early morning um and is there anything else that you want to maybe talk about or say? I think you guys pretty well covered it. I mean, just work hard. Work hard. Yeah, and just whatever it takes to get the job done, that's what you need to do. Yeah, I will say if there's anybody that's perhaps my age or the age of a lot of the folks that you have working for you,

what you would kind of say to them and what advice you would give them. Yeah, I tell people, you know, you don't care what day it is and you don't care what time it is. You just do what you have to do. Here, you know, I'm in my late 60s, and, you know, like I said, at 5 a.m. I'm making ice cream. Right. And, you know, no regrets at all.

I mean, I wake up, I'm ready to go. Well, I do have one more question I forgot. So do you take suggestions of ice cream? Like will people call you or write you or tell Mark on Facebook, hey, what about this? Yeah, there was a lady. We were at the amphitheater in St. Clairsville Thursday night, and a lady wants us to do something keto-friendly. Oh.

So that's our next project, I guess. Oh, that makes sense. Okay. All right. Yeah, but if anybody has a request, they can always get a little mark. And sometimes it's easy, and sometimes like, no. Right. All right, we're going to have some fun with that.

I'll have some fun with it on the drive back home, and I might even stop in on the way back to the house. But we certainly appreciate your time this morning. I love your insight, and we do appreciate you coming on and giving us your time. And for Wendy Anderson, Kirk Porterfield, again, thank you. I'm Drake Watson. This has been Community Connections and Commerce.

Thanks for listening.