By Will Grunewald
Photograph by Derek Bissonnette
[cs_drop_cap letter=”A” color=”#000000″ size=”5em” ]bby Freethy started making meltingly attractive popsicles as a side side hustle, selling them from her Greenville-based food truck. Then, she retired the truck and doubled down on the popsicles. It’s still an ancillary gig to her long-running Northwoods Gourmet Girl line of jams and condiments, but now, Tradewinds convenience stores, Boothbay’s Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, and a few other retailers carry six flavors of Freethy’s Wicked Maine Pops, including wild blueberry, Key-lime pie, and banana cream. Freethy sources many ingredients from around Maine and gets her birch popsicle sticks from Hardwood Products, in Guilford. A slew of additional varieties — lemon creamsicle, strawberry lemonade, and chocolate caramel sea salt, to name a few — show up at her roving carts, one of which is in downtown Belfast much of the summer. In Greenville, Freethy opened a popsicle emporium (17 Moosehead Lake Rd.) where customers can have their Wicked Maine Pops dipped in chocolate and nuts. Bartenders at nearby Trailside Restaurant & Lounge (33 Leisure Life Rd.) will even drop a pop into a cocktail like a big, flavorful ice cube. Freethy loves the range of popsicle possibilities. “They’re nostalgic, and they’re sophisticated,” she says. “Also, they’re pretty delicious.”
