East Idaho Eats: Support a veteran at Mac’s Snow Shack

AMMON — To some, Mac’s Snow Shack in Ammon means an icy treat.

“It tastes so good,” said Jayci Hansen, a 7-year-old customer.

To the owners, the shack stands for supporting family and freedom.

After co-owner Hugh McKinney returned home with wounds from military service, his family wanted to do something to help. They came up with Mac’s Snow Shack, Mac being Hugh’s nickname while serving in the military. Mac’s Snow Shack even offers a military discount.

“My husband was in Iraq. (He) came home injured and we needed to do something as a family to help pay for kids’ school, sports, school fees, life and bills, so we bought a small existing one that was here and have expanded,” co-owner Jeanette McKinney said.

The shack also sells a wide variety of flavors, including custom flavors named for all of the kids in the McKinney family.

“My son Jack has the Jack Jack Attack, which is all the sours. Tropical Ricky our son Rick created. It’s a very popular one. It’s a kiwi, lemon and mango shaved ice,” Jeanette said.

She said the most popular custom order is the Teton Twist, which is a combination of mountain berry and huckleberry syrups. Employees can also make it Hawaiian style by adding soft-serve ice cream to the middle of a snow treat.

Jeanette said if customers don’t want to get too creative with their flavors they can go for something more traditional, or even soft serve ice cream.

“Our most requested flavor is Tiger’s Blood — that is the most popular snow shack flavor,” McKinney said.

Regardless of what flavors customers prefer, some spend the winter looking forward to Mac’s Snow Shack’s offerings.

“I like getting a snow cone because it’s something you can’t get all year round, so I think the excitement is (that) you wait all winter, and then you get a nice icy treat during the hot summer,” customer Cassandra Key said.

Jeanette and Hugh say they appreciate all of their customers and are looking forward to their 10th anniversary at Mac’s Snow Shack.

“We’re are really thankful for all our customers. Next year on (the business’s) 10th anniversary, we’re going to have a big customer appreciation day and do 25-cent shaved ice,” Jeanette said.