Liberal is a “majority-minority” town, meaning that more than 60 percent of the population is Hispanic. The 2010 census lists four towns - Liberal, Dodge City, Ulysses and Garden City - as having the largest Hispanic populations in the state of Kansas. It’s no surprise that these sweet treats landed in southwest Kansas. The ice pops eventually migrated to the United States. The 1940s was a time of economic prosperity in Mexico and because of this, ice cream bars made with fresh milk and fresh fruit found their way into the Mexico City market. Paleteros selling paleta - Mexican ice cream and sherbet bars - have been a staple in Liberal for years but their journey began across the border in the small town of Tucambo, Mexico. Solis smiles at the father, remembering all of the times he bought this summer tradition for his own daughters back in Mexico. The father smiles, remembering a time when he was the kid dashing off with the cold, sweet treat, leaving his own father behind to pay. “That one!” He claps his hands, excitedly grabs the popsicle and then dashes inside, leaving his father with the bill. “What can I get you?” Solis says, smiling back at the kids’ excitement.Ī young boy licks his lips and points to a picture of a lime-flavored bar pasted on the cart. On this summer day, Solis stops at a local tire shop and the jingling bells work like magic - three smiling kids run at full speed to greet the old paletero. It doesn’t take much for veteran paletero, Francisco Solis, to get kids of all ages to run out to see what is in his cart. Their presence is announced with a quick jingle of bells dangling from the cart’s handlebar. They stop at parks, walk residential streets and business districts. Rather than a large ice cream truck playing a loop of catchy tunes, Liberal has paleteros ringing two small bells on a push cart selling traditional Mexican ice cream and sorbet bars. The triple-digits of summer leave most people wanting one thing - ice cream.
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