Searsport business embraces construction with themed treats

SEARSPORT, Maine (WABI) – Traffic, loud sounds, and a headache… that’s what you probably think of with construction. But on Route 1 in Searsport, there’s also something sweet.

Meryem Rogan owns the Splendiferous Sweet Shoppe in Searsport.

“We started out with these cute little dump trucks,” Meryem said.

Her mom Deanne Rogan also works there.

“Head oompa loompa hahaha,” Deanne said.

Construction on the road through Downtown Searsport began this spring.

“That’s like the rabbit tunnel to get to the rabbit hole,” Meryem said.

So they decided to make the situation- sweet.

“Sometimes we suit up for an action,” Meryem said.

After the chocolate dump trucks gained popularity, they took it one step further- enter: the construction crunch sundae.

“It’s any scoop of ice cream that you want. And we put on some chocolate cookie crumbles to mimic all that dirt out there, but it’s all cookies are delicious. And then we take some chocolate rocks and put them all over the top. And then we put a couple of molded chocolate construction vehicles and we put a little cone on top that is has white chocolate on it looks like a Construction Cone,” Meryem said.

Some special customers had the chance to taste test the new sundae.

“The owner of Gordon construction came in and with his son, I believe, and they got a construction crunch sundae,” Meryem said.

And there’s one other option if you haven’t met your chocolate quota for the day.

“I made it through the detour and all I got was this chocolate bar,” Meryem said. “All your nutritional needs for getting through a detour.

“Complaining and being negative will not change anything at all, it’s still going to happen,” Deanne said. “So we might as well make the most of and be happy about it.”

And if you’d like to venture down to Searsport for your own sweet treat, you can check out their Facebook page for their hours.

Maine DOT tells us they encourage local businesses to find creative ways to capitalize on construction work, and this example is a particularly sweet one.

Right now, they are on track to end the detour around downtown Searsport in mid-October and have the Route 1 construction completed in June of next year.

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