One innovation, the ice cream truck, has been luring children and adults alike to the street for a century. The trucks are now a staple part of summer in the U.S.

It's a little taste of simplicity." Mister Softee Vice President Mike Conway stands in an ice cream truck at Mister Softee Headquarters in Runnemede, N.J., on July 15, 2024.

And it’s not just ice cream shops and trucks — Shake Shack and other chains are selling more milkshakes, too. A Mister Softee ice cream truck in August of 2020 in New York City.

Ice cream trucks and carts, from the bike-and-cooler rig Green pedals in Hawaii to the Fudgy Wudgy Man (now men and women) who walk the beaches along the Jersey Shore to the Good Humor and Mister ...