Carolina Alumni Review - May/June 2007

can’t help but wonder, glancing at the menu board of 10 regular flavors, 10 guest stars and two “FUNky” flavors of ice pops, whether some of those customers were kidding. Avocado ice cream? Frozen gazpacho? Grapefruit-basil popsicles?

The frozen-treats-consuming public evidently approves, so much so that Semans and her business partner, Summer Bicknell, opened the Chapel Hill store in March, nearly two years after launching their flagship shop in Durham. Bicknell hopped off the corporate career ladder to apprentice to a paleta maker in a small town in Mexico. Bicknell then brought her version of the frozen Mexican treat-on-a-stick to Durham. LocoPops sells more conventional flavors as well: chocolate malted-milk ball, lime, cookies and cream, and strawberry.

A rotating gallery of kids’ art hangs on the orange, aqua, yellow and purple walls

Locopops, above, sells creative popsicles on Franklin Street. The Red Hen buys and sells gently used children’s products in Carrboro.

of the Chapel Hill shop. During the peak ice cream season, April to October, the store sells “pupsicles,” cold treats for dogs, to raise money for the local animal shelter. “We want to be involved in the community,” Semans said. “Part of our business model is to create community.”

Hours: Noon- 9 p.m. seven days a week

LocoPops, The Courtyard, 431 W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill (919) 286-3500

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Marriott International has opened a 108-suite Residence Inn on Erwin Road near U.S. 15-501. Each of the studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom suites has its own fully equipped kitchen. The hotel provides complimentary grocery shopping and a shuttle service to and from campus and elsewhere in Chapel Hill. Amenities include a free hot-breakfast buffet, putting green, fire pit, theater, billiard room and meeting space, even the opportunity to make friends at the weeknight social hour.

Rates range from about $113 to $188 a night. Ask about various special rates and discounts.

Residence Inn by Marriott, 101 Erwin Road, Chapel Hill, (919) 933-4848

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Lance Richardson ’ 68, known as a portrait photographer in Chapel Hill for 30 years and counting, shows a different side of his talents in the Lance Richardson Gallery he has opened inside University Mall. His glassed-in exhibit space makes the fourth art gallery in the increasingly refined mall. For the past few years, Richardson has been quietly collecting national and international accolades for his fine art photography, some of which he prints on woven material and other surfaces that make the image appear to be a painting.

Richardson exhibits other artists in other media as well. He changes the theme of his shows monthly to give 2nd Friday Art Walk-ers something new to see each month. His gallery also sells his limited edition prints of Carolina campus scenes and sports events highlights. “We have a lot of passion in this small space,” Richardson said.