If you close your eyes and scroll back through your longest-held memories of summer, there’s a hot night standing on your front porch, fireflies in the distance, a popsicle melting down your arm as fast as you can eat it. There’s your mom, splitting a twin pop on the edge of the kitchen counter. There’s the stickiness and the sweetness of a cool treat. That’s the collective spirit behind Greenville’s own pop maker, the brand new Common Pops.
“There’s a certain sense of pride that people take up around an item that’s locally made in their home city,” says David Baker, one of the main brains in this venture, which relies as much as possible on products sourced right here: Krause Brothers juices in their Grapefruit Mint flavor, strawberries from Sandy Flat in their Strawberry Lemonade, milk from Southern Oaks and Happy Cow in their Chocolate Sea Salt and Orange Cream. Sure, these flavors move beyond the red dye #42 of our childhoods, but who isn’t looking forward to a Fresh Peach popsicle, or Blueberry Cheesecake, Blueberry Ginger, Blueberry Whatever-They-Dream-Up-Next? One night, on deep recon, David and company steeped Fruity Pebbles in milk for a Breakfast Cereal Pop. “It just looked fun,” he says. “It’s some mad scientist kind of stuff. Every kid in Greenville is excited to see us coming.”
And while that might be true, David also sees a bigger picture. “The popsicles are just the vehicle,” he says. They’re a quick spirit-lifter. They’re a culinary surprise waiting to happen. “It’s too easy these days to find ways to divide ourselves from others in our community. No matter our background, beliefs, race, style, taste, job status, age—we can all at least share one thing in common.”
Common Pops are available in downtown Greenville, the Travelers Rest Farmers Market, and will be coming soon to a bright blue cart near you.
Common Pops, 123 Welborn St, Greenville. commonpops.com
