Ice cream shop sets opening

An old Clarendon name will grace the newest business on Kearney Street when it opens next weekend.

Stocking’s Ice Cream Parlor will hold its grand opening Friday and Saturday, August 4 and 5 from 2:00 to 10 p.m. and will feature homemade ice cream, sundaes, malts, milkshakes, and more.

Owner Virginia Patten and her husband, Brit, named the business after Dr. Jerome Daniel Stocking and his family, who occupied the same building at 116 S. Kearney from its construction in the 1890s up until the early 1970s.

“I am so excited about this,” Patten said. “I think it will be something nice for Clarendon.”

Stocking was a New York native who moved to Clarendon in 1885 at the urging of Col. Charles Goodnight and J.B. McClelland. He was the first physician to settle in the Panhandle. He opened a drug store in old Clarendon and moved his business to the present townsite in 1887. He later helped established Clarendon College and served on its board for many years. He died in 1918, but his drug store continued until his family sold it in 1973.

Patten’s family operated a grocery store adjacent to the Stocking building until the late 1990s, and her father, Jack Clifford, and uncle, Fred Clifford, obtained the property. The most recent business to occupy the space was Straight Off The Ranch, which made custom leather goods.

When the space became open in June, Patten thought an ice cream parlor would benefit the community. Tommy Hill was contracted to remodel the space and is putting the finishing touches on the job now.

Patten says Stocking’s will stay open late and will be available after football games and other community events.

Stocking’s will feature homemade ice cream from an Amarillo source and sorbet treats similar to Popsicles. Customers will be able to sample several ice cream flavors at once by purchasing a “flight,” and topping choices will include praline pecans and roasted, salted pecans from the San Saba Pecan Company.

San Saba pecans will also be available for sale at Stocking’s along with Patten’s homemade fudge. A party room will be available for small gatherings at the parlor, and an original “Stocking’s Drug Store” sign will be among the décor in the new business.