Faces Of Nantucket: Bodey Lovering

Before most of Nantucket is awake, Bodey Lovering is already making ice cream. His alarm goes off at 4:30 a.m., followed by a second at 4:40, and by 5 a.m. he is making frozen treats.

Some mornings this can be packaging or labeling pints, while others are spent experimenting with new flavors, adding ingredients until it tastes just right.

“Like I’m making a potion, and it needs an extra drop of something,” said Lovering, the co-owner of the Hang Loose Helado ice cream truck.

By noon, Bodey is behind the wheel of the truck, making daily stops at summer camps, private parties, and three consistent neighborhood routes, ending around 8 p.m. most days. Although those days are long, the self-proclaimed “Cream King” said there is no other job he would rather have.

“The obvious answer is it’s the best job in the world,” he said.

Bodey has lived on Nantucket for nearly his entire life and has worked a long list of jobs on the island throughout his teenage years. His connection to Hang Loose Helado dates back to the Strong Wings camp, where an ice cream truck was originally incorporated into the camp’s programming.

The truck eventually began operating on its own under owner and camp director Chris Getoor, starting at the island’s soccer fields, roughly three or four years ago. Bodey, who was an employee of Hang Loose Helado at the time, saw the potential for it to become something more.

After conversations with Getoor, Bodey was eventually purchased another owner’s one-third share, and last year, he became a part-owner. Since then, he has worked to give the truck a bit more personality.

Bodey described the shift as moving toward being a small business built around friendships, entertainment, and fun rather than a corporate operation. That approach is obvious when Bodey talks about the business. A conversation about ice cream can easily turn into jokes about using Luigi popsicles as hair gel or brainstorming bizarre ice cream creations.

Bodey believes that Hang Loose Helado is as much about entertainment as it is about ice cream.

This summer, the truck expanded into homemade ice cream and ice cream cookie sandwiches, which allowed Bodey the freedom to experiment with products and flavors beyond the traditional packaged treats associated with an ice cream truck.

Fan favorites have already emerged. Parents tend to gravitate more toward caramel magnum bars, while older kids and young adults tend to enjoy the Chipwiches. Younger children still reliably go for SpongeBob popsicles. Among the homemade pint options, Bodey said strawberry shortcake and mango-coconut-lime pints have been popular.

The reaction that Bodey gets from customers matters the most to him.

“People are wicked excited,” he said. “It’s like we’re all little kids again.”

His favorite stops are the Nantucket summer camps, including ACKventure and Camp Lighthouse.

“Making 100 kids happy, you really just feel peace,” he said.

That feeling makes the 5 a.m. wake-up worth it.

“It’s infectious,” Bodey said. “You can be having the worst day of your life. Go out there and play the music, and the first person comes out smiling, and you forget about all that stuff and learn it’s not that deep.”

Behind this image, there is plenty more than what customers see. When Bodey isn’t driving routes or making ice cream, he is conducting research, crunching numbers, and coordinating events.

Introducing the homemade ice cream to the truck required months of conversations with the Nantucket Health Department, which ultimately had to create a new license for the business.

Running a seasonal business means every hour counts.

“The hardest part is knowing when to take a loss,” he said.

Still, Bodey believes that an ice cream truck on the island is a necessity. Hang Loose stands out because of its “weird, quirky, fun charm”, he says, along with the simple purpose of making people happy.

Long-term, he hopes to expand to a storefront selling his homemade ice cream and other products while preserving the business's sense of fun. He is experimenting with creations such as chocolate oysters made from real oyster-shell molds and wants to develop more original items to sell.

“Do I really want just a scoop of ice cream, or do I want something fun?”

For Bodey, the answer is clear: he wants Hang Loose to offer something both memorable and playful while keeping it distinctly its own.

But even as those ideas grow, the part of the job that matters most to him remains simple: the reaction he gets when he pulls up, turns on the music and watches people come running.