Local girl runs ice cream business

SPOKANE VALLEY - People wanting to help the community were also able to find cold sweet treats during the July 29 Giving Back Spokane car wash fundraiser at Umpqua Bank, 507 Hallett in Spokane Valley.

The treats were available because a local ice cream van was on site.

Lemyn Welliver, nine year old daughter of Sarah Welliver, owns her very own small business, Lem's Pops.

At five years old, Lemyn told her mom she wanted to run her own ice cream truck.

The business is stationed in Spokane, but service most of the region, including Spokane Valley, The West Plains, and greater Spokane County. They are available to work parties and other events.

In the summer of 2019, they ordered a van from Japan.

While waiting about six months for it to arrive her mother took care of some other business needs.

"I was brainstorming, getting all the licensing," Sarah Welliver said. "And figuring out what we want the look to be."

The van arrived in Tacoma late summer and they started to renovate it right away.

They took out all of the seats in the back, putting in a freezer, a speaker and gave it the whole 50's diner look.

Lemyn's mother said, "We wanted to kind of bring the retro look back."

According to Sarah Welliver, she helped her daughter get the business running because it teaches her real world business skills and working experience.

"It really shows her a lot about money management and customer interaction," Sarah said. "Plus an ice cream van is the perfect little business for a little girl to run."

Sarah explained that they did have some struggles throughout the COVID pandemic.

"The year of COVID was a bummer." Sarah Welliver said, "That was going to be our big year."

During that time, they set up shop at multiple community events.

They volunteered with Spokane Quarantine a few times throughout the pandemic. They worked through it and made it out successfully.

Now the business is seeing steady and established success, and they have plans to continue along the same path.