By Colter Hettich, Features Editor
Abilene-born Cajun Cones provides a cool relief from the heat this summer. With two north-side locations, North Judge Ely Boulevard and North Mockingbird Street, and more than 70 flavors, Cajun Cones strives to provide a shaved-ice experience straight from New Orleans.
Bill Luttrell, co-owner and founder of Cajun Cones, lived in southern Louisiana twice, first stationed by the Air Force, and said “the snow” he serves in Abilene is authentic.
“That’s where we got acquainted with snowballs (Cajun- style snow cones,)” Luttrell said. “We felt those were just some of the best.”
Luttrell worked as the congregational minister of Hillcrest Church of Christ from 1960-64 and was involved with a West Texas church camp for 25 years. When he felt like it was time to leave the camp in 1987, it didn’t take him long to find something else to do.
He started Cajun Cones with his son Lynn in 1988. He bought a small building in Abilene and ordered the ice-cutting machine and flavored syrups from Louisiana. He set up the first stand next to Taco Bueno on Judge Ely.
“We still buy almost everything from New Orleans,” Luttrell said. “If it’s not from New Orleans, it’s from somewhere in southern Louisiana,”
Now in its 21st year, what was once a single stand with 15 flavors is now a two-stand outfit with one mobile trailer and more than 70 flavors.
Cajun Cones prides itself in its cream flavors, offering 60 standard flavors and 12 premixed, cream-based flavors.
Because the stands qualify as a temporary site business, they can only be open for business for six months out of the year. Luttrell gets to pick which months and said he chooses
March 15 – September 15. He said in that period of time, April and May continue to be the busiest each year.
“It’s really strange in a way,” Luttrell said. “People wonder why we close. Some people even tell me they would buy them until Christmas.”
On May 5, Cajun Cones will be on ACU campus for this semester’s dead day. Students who donate to the clothing drive will receive a free snow cone.
