LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville’s Dairy Kastle opened for the season this month to lots of fanfare.
“Here you go, let me grab you some napkins,” Katherine Smith, the co-owner of Dairy Kastle, said to a customer.
This year is Smith’s 11th season as co-owner of the Eastern Parkway ice cream shop. Before she dished up soft serve, Smith was serving drinks.
“Oh, so I was a bartender for a long time and I knew the former owner and I thought this was the size of a business I could run,” she said.
Smith says the ice cream stand has been open in the same location for 46 years. If you think the building looks like an old corner gas station, that’s exactly what it was. The simple yet vintage aesthetic of Dairy Kastle’s building exterior is matched by its extremely cozy workspace behind two sliding overdoing windows.
Smith and coworker Hannah Winthrow can’t help but dance around one another while moving through the narrow space.
“It’s the Dairy Kastle Dance,” Winthrow said.
This is Winthrow’s 7th season working for Smith.
“I just love the environment. It’s so friendly. The owners are great. Everyone here is great to work with. I love making our customers smile,” Winthrow said.
Smith operates Dairy Kastle seasonally, which she said helps create excitement for each opening day.
“We open the first Tuesday of March, every year," she said. "We love being seasonal because it’s a fresh start every year."
And this year, the weather was perfect for the start of the season. It was 70 degrees before 1 p.m.
For the uninitiated, Winthrow and Smith like to remind everyone that Dairy Kastle is a cash-only operation.
“Sometimes it’s a little jarring for them on their first try," Winthrow said.
But it’s not uncommon to see other customers offer to chip in when cash is forgotten.
For those interested in visiting, Dairy Kastle is located at 575 Eastern Parkway in Louisville, Ky.