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Meet the Ice Cream Man
Matt Allen, aka The Ice Cream Man, hands out ice cream on Sunday at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Photo by Jay Janner/AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Not many folks backstage at ACL Fest know Matt Allen by name, but that’s OK with him. “Hey, Ice Cream Man,” a woman Saturday night after Beck’s set called out. “Do you have any Bomb Pops left?” He digs one out of the cooler and hands it to her free of charge. “You’re the best, Ice Cream Man,” she said.
Matt Allen is popular with the ladies. And the artists. And the crew. And the cops. Especially the cops. “Policemen love ice cream,” he said. So it’s not just donuts.
Allen will give away more than 3,000 pieces of ice cream before ACL Fest is over. At SXSW he gave out 11,000. He’ll be backstage at more than a dozen festivals — big and small — all over the country. He was backstage at the MTV video music awards, where Rhiannon and Chris Brown were just two of his customers.
How does he do it? Iowa company Bluebunny donates all the ice cream. It’s good promotion for them. But Allen has to stay with friends on the road because hotels aren’t feasible. Asked if he’s an ice cream freak, Long Beach, Calif., native Allen answered “I’m an adventure freak. That’s what this is, man, going all over the country, meeting so many people.”
The adventure started four years ago at Ashland, Ore., where Allen originally sold his frozen delectables. But at the All Tomorrow’s Parties fest in late 2004, Allen picked up a sponsor with an Oregon ice cream company and realized it’s a lot more fun to just give it away.
If he runs out, as he did Saturday at 5:30 p.m., he hits the local Bluebunny distributor, in Austin that’s Yumi, and they replentish the stock.
“We’ve had our share of celebrities,” Allen said. “We get a lot of their kids. Sam Beam from Iron & Wine brought his kids by and they loved it. At Lollapalooza, Jeff Tweedy’s kids acted like they had kidnapped him in exchange for more ice cream. Ice cream makes people happy.” Because it melts, Allen’s product can’t be hoarded, which makes it perfect for backstage, where bag-stuffing freeloaders roam.
Allen said it’s not the big names, but the behind-the-scenes workers that he’s there for. “They’re the people that make the festival happen. They work real hard and when I see them walk away with a big smile, it makes my day.”
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