It’s easy to say that.
Ice cream feels small. Seasonal. Simple. But behind every scoop at Holman’s Ice Cream is a real business with real pressure attached to it. There is payroll to meet, product to order, equipment to maintain, and a family depending on it to work. It is not a side project. It is a livelihood.
And here on Prince Edward Island, that livelihood can feel especially exposed in the winter.
When the tourists leave and the wind starts coming sideways off the water, the Island settles into a different rhythm. The streets grow quieter, evenings feel longer, and most people choose the warmth of home over venturing back out into the cold. Winter on PEI is not a short chapter. It lingers for months, and during that stretch, ice cream is rarely the first thing on anyone’s mind.
The quality at Holman’s was never the issue. Many locals would argue it is the best on the Island, even if Cows confidently claims to be the best in the world. Holman’s is incredibly good. That foundation was already there.
The challenge was seasonality and the reality of a business that peaks in the warmest months and tightens in the coldest.
Daniel Meister, the owner of Holman’s, had traveled overseas and experienced winter light festivals that transformed cold, quiet towns into destinations. He saw how light, atmosphere, and intentional design could pull people outdoors even in the harshest conditions. He loved the idea, but it was still just that. An idea.
We connected through a mutual friend, the inspirational Rose Dennis, who has a gift for seeing potential partnerships before they exist. What started as a conversation became a serious look at what winter could mean for Holman’s.
The objective was simple to state and difficult to execute. Increase the percentage of people coming through the door during the harshest months of the year. Not with a discount, not with a quick promotion, but with something that shifted behavior.
We also knew we could not measure success in a single season. On the Island, new initiatives often launch with enthusiasm and then fade. If this was going to work, it had to be a three year strategy. We set a realistic but ambitious target of increasing winter traffic by 10 to 15 percent year over year, with the long term goal of lifting winter sales by 35 to 40 percent.
That meant building something worth leaving the house for.
Out of that vision came Holman’s Light Gardens in Summerside. It was not about hanging a few strands of lights and hoping for the best. It was about creating an experience that felt intentional, immersive, and memorable, something families would plan around and locals would talk about.
It also meant work that did not always feel glamorous.
There were days setting up electrical in the pouring rain and evenings adjusting displays in freezing wind. There were moments where it would have been easy to question whether standing in slush running cables was worth it. There is a quiet voice that sometimes says setting up Christmas lights is beneath you.
That voice has to be ignored.
If the goal is to make a local business stronger, to protect jobs, and to give a brand a reason to exist beyond its busiest season, then nothing is beneath you. You do the work because the vision demands it.
We are now planning year three, and so far the numbers have supported the strategy. Traffic has grown. Sentiment has shifted. People now associate Holman’s with winter as well as summer, and that change in perception is powerful.
Our goal was to treat this local business like it was massive. The strategy, the photography, the video, the branding, every piece of it was focused and intentional. Because no matter the size of the project, the mindset stays the same. You dive in fully. You give it 100 percent. You build it like it matters, because it does.
Holman’s did not wait for summer to save them. They chose to build in winter. And that decision continues to pay off.
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