Kelly’s Cone Connection

Kan I? I Think I Kan. Nah, I Kan’t…
Kelly’s Cone Connection, Hamden
June 2024

… Write about this place without delving into the past.

As my son said when I told him some of the backstory here, “bruh.”

Bruh indeed.

I realize it would be easier to just do what I usually do and write about how Calvin and I enjoyed our ice cream at Kelly’s Cone Connection after we enjoyed our lunches next door at the Glenwood Drive-In. But… I can’t do that. I should do that, but I can’t.

Sigh.

The ice cream shop had been around for about 30 years when we visited, but has only been “Kelly’s Cone Connection” for the last 5 or so years. Before that the owner, Kelly (Stone) Ciccone felt that Kelly’s Kone Konnection was a perfectly fine name. Sure, she heard some complaints and “jerky comments” here and there, but stuck to her K-K-K guns for a long, long time.

BUT! But Kelly had a reason for the, um, awkward naming convention: “It’s for my sisters; Kelly, Kristen, and Karen.”

(The “Konnection/Connection” part came from it being connected from her family’s Glenwood Drive-In.)

There were some news stories about the name in 2017/2018 and Kelly finally got around to making the name change. Some blogger guy confronted her in 2017.

During the brief interview, Stone got up and walked out because she was bothered by the line of questioning she faced. The questions had a general message, “Why did you name the store with the initials KKK?”

“It’s for my sisters; Kelly, Kristen, and Karen.”

“We make ice cream! You’re getting me upset and I have to walk away,” said Stone as she turned her back to the questioning.

A “jerky comment” as Stone had said earlier in the interview is categorized to Stone as someone insinuating that she is a racist. During the interview she claimed that the questions asked insinuated such accusations.

Stone seemed defensive towards the questions posed to her; she was short with her answers about the racial undertones of the name.

“No, not at all,” Stone vaguely answered when she was asked a question on whether or not she feels that her store lacks an African-American demographic of patrons.

That wasn’t a “brief interview, that was a bit of an ambush. I have no idea if Black people enjoyed ice cream at Kelly’s Kone Konnection or not or if there’s been an uptick since the name change. I can say that I, as a pasty white guy from a long line of pasty white people, was gobsmacked by the store’s name when I first became aware of it a decade ago.

Just as I was shocked that there’s a Klan Drive in Wolcott where there used to be a business called Kreative Klips that seems to have now moved into a commercial space.

If it’s possible to ignore all that, Kelly and her Krew make some darn good ice cream. In fact, they won local “best of” awards even when burdened with the Krazy moniKKer.

All of their ice cream is made in the shop in “small batches using only the finest ingredients.” Kelly partners with local farms to make some of the best strawberry and peach ice cream in the state.

I was able to put aside any reservations from the past behind me as I scanned the large array of flavors. I even sent my lactose-intolerant wife a picture of the sign board; they had her favorite flavor in a lactose-free variety! I don’t believe we’ve ever seen toasted almond that she can go to town on before. I even wrestled with the idea of somehow bringing her some, 50 minutes away.

I got a cone of strawberry shortcake which happened to be the last of the batch. An older lady playfully yelled at me when she thought I’d gotten the last of it, but behind her words was true anger. I could tell. And after I tasted it, I respected the anger.

This is darn good. Massive chunks of strawberries mixed in with shortbread in a vanilla base. Rich and creamy, but not cloying. I could eat a ton of this. Calvin had his usual Oreo which he also enjoyed well enough.

There is indoor and outdoor seating here, just as with the restaurant next door. Both seem to do brisk business and both put out pretty darn good food.

Is it fair of me to dwell on this joint’s former name that was changed in 2018 or so? Obviously I think it is – it is owned by the same person as I write this in 2024 and she put up a tepid fight for over a year before making the name change. When I put my CT Homemade Ice Cream List together, it was the triple K name. I always note when businesses or museums change names on this website.

I don’t know the owner, I’ve never met her, and I cannot know her motivations beyond the fact she and her sisters have names that start with K.

And even if there was something to the accusation, people change. And if you make excellent real fruit and berry ice cream, I want to believe in you.

Kelly’s Cone Connection
CTMQ’s Homemade Ice Cream Trail