There is a time every fall semester when freshmen realize a snowball in Baton Rouge is hard to find.
Through several interviews, The Daily Reveille has located five stands in the Baton Rouge area. Luckily, three of the five stands are in the University and downtown areas and no more than a 10 minute drive.
One stand is in walking distance of campus and is located near University Lake on Stanford Avenue. There is also a stand near the intersection of Acadian Thruway and Perkins and one on Government Street near Acadian Thruway.
David Lewis, a 16-year-old Baton Rouge native and snowball mogul, said snowballs are not as popular in the area as they are elsewhere.
“[Snowballs] are not as desirable, and they are not as famous here,” said Lewis, a Baton Rouge High junior who buys snowballs about twice a week.
Lindsay Chargois, communication disorders sophomore and Baton Rouge native, said she had wanted a snowball all summer but never got around to getting one.
“I never see snowball stands around,” Chargois said. “It’s so hot, you would think they would have one on every street corner.”
Chargois attributed the low number of snowball stands to the area’s hot climate.
“People are too lazy to open snowball stands because who wants to sit out in the heat and work,” Chargois said.
Alison Jones, chemistry junior, said she loves snowballs but cannot find one.
“They don’t exist,” Jones said. “I saw a sign for a snowball stand on Government Street but could never find it.”
The lack of snowballs is more shocking for students from the New Orleans area, where snowball stands are commonplace in the majority of neighborhoods.
Jones, Covington native, said snowballs are more available in her hometown than in Baton Rouge, even though Covington is much smaller.
“Covington has two or three stands, and Baton Rouge is much larger, and I’ve only heard rumors of three stands,” Jones said.
The tasty treat originated in New Orleans, but the particular inventor is often disputed.
Inventor Ernest Hansen patented his ice block shaver in 1934, but SnoWizard, a New Orleans shaved-ice company, said its George Ortolano created the snowball two years later.
Though they are often called snow cones, snowballs eventually spread across the country. New Orleans snowballs, however, have maintained its reputation of having finer shaved ice and tasting better than mostothers.
—–Contact Justin Fritscher at [email protected].