Back before I worked at IBM, I worked for Vermont Confectionery Company in Burlington for a number of years. This was back in the early 1950s when Cree Mee Stands were emerging in many of the towns and Jericho was no exception. A young man by the name of Joe Rotunda opened such a stand in Jericho right on the sharp corner as you start going up the hill towards Underhill on Route 15.
Just this past year, Maryann and I made several calls to Joe's Snack Bar, trying to find when it was open as, supposedly it is one of the few places that sells "Pigs In A Blanket". I always thought that "Pigs In A Blanket" and Corn Dogs were the same, but she tells me no. The only place she gets "Pigs In A Blanket" is at the fair. Anyhow, again this past year we never did make contact with Joe's Snack Bar, so when I read about Joe's passing, was kind of interested in what has happened to him over the years.
St. Albans also had its famous Cree Mee Stand back in the 1950s. it was called Brunnelle's and was located in the little Mall across from The St. Albans Messenger Building on North Main Street. There were many long waits in line there to get a creemee on the weekends. Mallets Bay used to have "Gracie's".
I doubt that any young parent hasn't gone through the scenario of their youngster trying to leisurely eat a creemee and the parent trying to rush them so it won't drip all over and heaven forbid the parent grab the cone and take a few licks to try to help without a lot of screaming going on.
Anyhow, Cree Mees were a great invention and I still love them to this day, even though they did not appear here in Vermont until the 1950s.
If you would like to read a bout Joe and also about the book written about him, click on the following link where there is also a video:
