NEGAUNEE — Downtown Negaunee just got a little bit sweeter with a special treat. Should you find yourself on the west side of downtown, stop in and grab your favorite flavor of ice cream. Located at 442 Iron St., The Cone is taking over the space formerly known as Busters, which also served ice cream.

Owned by brother and sister Jesse and Amanda DeGraeve, The Cone is another locally-owned and family-run business.

Jesse currently lives in Traverse City and hopes to relocate to the Upper Peninsula one day.

“Right now, I have a couple buildings I own in TC and a commercial property I need to deal with before I make the final move,” Jesse said. However, he is in the U.P. on a weekly basis.

Jesse has a degree in engineering, but his passion has always been to own his own business. He’s an entrepreneur. Over twenty years he worked in towing and the inventory transport of cars. He purchased the location of The Cone after selling that business.

“Historic towns are really neat and I love smaller communities. TC has gotten much bigger since growing up there”, Jesse said.

“Jesse is the business side of things, I am the heart”, said his

Amanda responsible for running the day-to-day operations at the Cone.

“By day I’m a nurse, but at night I’m slinging ice cream with my incredible crew”, Amanda said.

Amanda works as a registered nurse at the hospital in Marquette, where she’s been a specialist in dialysis for over 12 years.

“I will say ice cream is much lighter business than nursing, said Amanda.

The Cone does not have a typical origin story, where somebody decided one day they wanted to start a business. It stemmed from a personal tragedy.

Amanda’s partner Zach had been diagnosed with stage-4 cancer at age 46. According to Amanda, they had a dream to sail the world!

“So, we bought a sailboat, fixed it up and launched out of Galveston, Texas the spring of 2023, Amanda said.

Sailing the seas for six months, they traveled over 7000 nautical miles, visiting places like Cuba, Jamaica, Panama and the canal, Costa Rica, and Mexico, before ending their voyage in San Francisco, California.

“Zach passed away in October of 2023, and my wonderful family came to Negaunee, providing that family support”. Amada said.

While in the UP, Jesse looked around and he soon found himself in historic Downtown Negaunee, amidst all the construction. After some time, some long hours of consulting and serious talks between the siblings The Cone was born!

“Ice Cream is a sweet thing, it is a happy thing. Although I had this personal tragedy happen, I like to think that something good has come out of it. I think Zach would have loved the idea of us opening The Cone, being an ice cream fanatic”, Amanda said.

The Cone serves Cedar Crest Ice Cream, a brand out of Wisconsin, that’s been around since 1976. According to their website, Cedar Crest makes ice cream the old-fashioned way, from scratch, in small batches, and slowly pasteurized to enhance flavor.

Although Ceder Crest makes more than 80 flavors, the Cone can only carry so many. Rest assured, they will have plenty of hand – scooped varieties, that will be changed up from time to time. The Cone will also offer many of your standard candy toppings for the extreme sweet tooth.

People with dietary restrictions can rest easy knowing that the staff at the cone is committed to making sure there is always an option . The Cone offers options such as no-sugar added flavor, a dairy-free flavor, and a gluten-free ice cream.

“We hope in the future that we can cater to those with specialized diets or for those maybe looking for little healthier options,” Amanda said.

The Cone is open every day except Tuesday from 2 to 9 p.m.

“Being new, we may adjust our hours depending on traffic. We’re still finding our feet”, Amanda said.

“Negaunee has an atmosphere, it’s winning. People are moving here; people are positive and love the changes. We hear it all the time, people saying thank you for having a place we can go after 7 p.m.”Amanda said.

Now comes the hardest decision, what flavor of ice cream is the best? Jesse says mint chip, Amanda says peanut butter Mackinaw Island Fudge, Come Forge Your Adventure at The Cone on Iron Street and you decide!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Nate Heffron is city manager of the city of Negaunee.