Taggarts - Canton

Ernie Schott grew up on a dairy farm. He spent over thirty years in manufacturing, including twenty-five as a plant manager. At age fifty two, he was ready for something new but not retirement. He was given the opportunity to combine his life experiences and add some new ones in August of 1998 when he became the new owner of Taggarts Ice Cream Parlor.

One thing Ernie learned in his years of work is the importance of every staff member to the quality of the finished product. He considers himself very lucky to have his team of people at Taggarts. All of the employees decided to stay when he bought the parlor. He was also added two daughters and a son-in-law to his crew. Greg Cook, a manager and head ice cream maker, has been at Taggarts for well over a decade. He also lives in one of the apartments attached to the back of the building. Mr. Schott lives two blocks away. Home and work are more than close, they are intertwined. The employees of Taggarts are more a family than a group of workers.

Mr. Schott and company, inherited an attraction as important to Canton as the Football Hall of Fame, just down the street. There has been an ice cream parlor at the location since 1916 and it has been called Taggarts since 1926. Mr. Schott has no intention of changing a thing, in fact, one of his first acts was to plant pear trees in the front of the building to replace trees which were cut down years before.

There have been several owners of this ice cream parlor over the years, but each has served as a custodian of Taggarts traditions. Walking into the parlor is a step back into time. The original marble counter tops have withstood thousands of elbows and sundae dishes during their tenure here. The high backed, maple booths and (now antique) soda fountain were brought in by Joe Taggart when he took over in the twenties. Another previous owner, Check Hess, brought in a 1940's era player piano. Things do not change here because customers won't hear of it.

Nostalgia is an important side dish but customers would not keep coming back if the trip down memory lane did not include something good to eat. Taggarts offers delicious made from scratch food, made by veteran staffers using time tested recipes. However, ice cream is king here. If it can be scooped, dipped, mixed, or poured, Taggarts has it. By far, the most famous Taggarts legacy is the Bittner - invented in 1931 and named in honor of a delivery boy. This is a secret mixture of vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and pecans from a special supplier in Georgia. The end result is a dessert which has the consistency of a milkshake but is too thick to drink.

Taggarts is preparing for a new century of business by staying firmly entrenched in the past.

1401 Fulton Rd. N.W., Canton, 330/452-6844. Mon. - Thurs., 11 a.m. - 11 p.m., Fri. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 12 a.m.