Natalie Wallace at Honey Bear’s Broad Street Market stand

The Broad Street Market’s newest vendor is an ice cream lover’s dream.

Harrisburg-based Honey Bear Ice Cream opened on Thursday in the market’s stone building, serving dairy-free, gluten-free scoops and treats.

“This is our community outpost,” said owner Natalie Wallace. “This space for us is really all about supporting and thanking our local community here in Harrisburg.”

Since 2021, Honey Bear has churned unique, rich ice cream, holding pop-up events in its mobile trailer and stocking freezers at small businesses across the region. All of Honey Bear’s ice cream is vegan, swapping dairy for alternatives like coconut products. The Broad Street Market stand marks the business’s first brick-and-mortar location.

Located right inside the market building’s front doors, Honey Bear’s stand features a large counter with plenty of stools for sitting and enjoying a house-made waffle cone or sundae.

“I wanted to invite people to sit and stay,” Wallace said.

Honey Bear’s ice cream freezer will regularly feature 16 flavors, with staples like vanilla and chocolate and rotating seasonal offerings. For the holiday season, flavors like gingerbread cookie and holiday road are available.

Wallace also announced an upcoming partnership with Little Amps Coffee Roasters. Starting in January, Honey Bear will offer espresso service at its market stand with authentic Italian-style affogatos, lattes and other coffee drinks.

Specialty gluten-free pastries, like cinnamon buns and cookies, will also hit the Honey Bear menu board occasionally in small batches.

For Wallace, the opening in the Broad Street Market is significant as the market continues to recover after last year’s fire, which closed the brick building and cut down on foot traffic in the stone building. When she announced Honey Bear’s new location, she said there were still people who hadn’t realized the market was open at all since the fire.

“It was a big thing for me to encourage people to come back,” she said. I love Broad Street Market and it’s been through a lot. For me, this is showing we support the market.”

Just next door to Honey Bear’s stand, another vegan vendor, Harrisburg-based Ve’Lightfully Vegan, is slated to open soon, as well.

On Honey Bear’s opening day, customers lined up to get the first scoops at the market, showing Wallace that people have been waiting excitedly for the stand and are happy to see it open. She looks forward to seeing how the scoop shop model works and how she may be able to replicate it and expand in the future.

“Already, I feel like it’s worth it, and it’s working,” she said. “I just feel really grateful.”

For more information about Honey Bear Ice Cream, visit their website or Instagram page.

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