Jeff Bucci wore the perfect garb Sunday night for a late-winter ice cream run to Red’s Dairy Freeze on Cottage Road.

With temperatures dropping below 40 degrees, Bucci dressed in long underwear, a long-sleeved T-shirt and ski cap. On his feet were bedroom slippers.

Tara Bucci, his wife, jumped out of their Toyota SUV and trotted to the walk-up window, where a line of locals hunched their shoulders and braced the cold to get their first taste of Red’s ice cream for the 2007 season.

“We noticed last Friday that Red’s had opened, and my husband hasn’t stopped talking about it since,” said Tara, who also wore a ski cap and slippers. “We took an extra long walk around Kettle Cove this morning, so we could come here tonight.”

The opening of Red’s Dairy Freeze is a sure sign of spring for area residents who drive by the tiny ice-cream shop at the foot of Meeting House Hill. Red’s, which only offers walk-up counter service, has been operating at the same location for 55 years.

The ice cream shop used to open later in the season – around St. Patrick’s Day – by serving green ice cream. But owner Chris Bolling has opened Red’s earlier in the past few years, in response to customer demand.

“We don’t have a set date to open,” said Bolling. “It’s usually the end of February.” This year, Red’s opened Feb. 20. As snow fell and temperatures dipped to zero, the counter help at Red’s dipped ice cream cones in rainbow and chocolate jimmies for the season’s first customers.

“There was a steady stream of people asking for ice cream, considering it was zero degrees outside,” said Sara Conley, who has worked off and on at Red’s for 16 years.

Conley, who is a stay-at-home mom now, said Red’s was her first job in high school. It continues to be a vital link for her in the community, as she greets customers who order soft-serve ice cream, low-calorie frozen yoghurt and the ever-popular

Nor-easters, mixed with Reese’s Pieces, gummy bears or cookie dough. Her personal favorite is the Boston shake, a soft-serve milkshake topped with a hot fudge sundae.

Last weekend, Tarra Bucci of Cape Elizabeth ordered a raspberry ice cream cone for herself, and brought her husband a hot-fudge sundae, as he waited in their heated SUV, which idled in Red’s parking lot.

“I go to Red’s a lot in the summer for their sundaes,” said Jeff Bucci. “It’s hard to find sundaes made with soft-serve ice cream, like Red’s does it.”

Nick Dehaas, a 17-year-old senior at South Portland High, dipped a spoon in a peanut butter Nor’easter as he and several friends huddled under the lights in Red’s parking lot. “I probably spent $100 here last season on Nor’easters,” said Dehaas. “I’m hooked.”

His friend Claire Horsman, another South Portland senior, joked that she ordered a hot-fudge sundae to warm her on the chilly evening. “Red’s is amazing,” she said, hopping up and down to warm herself. “I could eat their ice cream all year.”

Bolling, Red’s owner, said it makes sense to close his shop after Labor Day for several months. “If I were open all year, this would not be as special to folks,” he said smiling.

Bolling grew up learning the ice cream retail business from his father, Leonard “Red” Bolling, who was a driver for Hood’s.

In 1952, Bolling Sr. opened his ice cream shop as a Tasty Freeze, offering vanilla cones for a nickel. Bolling broke away from Tasty Freeze in the 1960s, changing the name to Red’s Dairy Freeze.

The younger Bolling eventually took over his late father’s business. “But we’ve stayed pretty much the same over the years,” said Bolling, other than expanding the menu to include new varieties of ice cream, such as milk-free sorbet.

“We give people something they want to have,” said Bolling, whose two daughters also help out at the shop. “We put a smile on the kids’ faces and we meet nice people.”

Red’s Dairy Freeze has been owned and operated by the same family, in the same South Portland location, since 1952. Leonard “Red” Bolling dropped his affiliation with Tasty Freeze in the 1960s to run his own shop, which offered walk-up window service. This 1960s-era photo shows the seasonal store with its new name.

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