Family-owned business brings variety of sweet treats to East Palestine customers
Kathy Nixon, owner of The Arctic Circle, celebrated the opening of her first brick-and-mortar sweets shop with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 2 in East Palestine.
“People showed up,” she said. “We ended up giving away 191 shaved ices. It went way better than I had expected; we were nervous because it was only like 48 degrees out. You never know where support’s going to come from.”
She moved into the building at the end of 2025 on South Market Street in East Palestine.
“We got started with the mobile shaved ice unit around 2017, going to carnivals and fairs. Then we added the candy to it, and it grew,” Nixon said. “We went from shaved ice, then expanded into candy and drinks. For the last couple of years, we thought about doing a brick-and-mortar, but weren’t sure if we wanted to be tied down, because when you’re mobile, you can go anywhere, do anything. But for us, the shaved ice was so seasonal that we needed something to carry us through winter.”
Inside The Arctic Circle, there’s also ice cream, homemade chocolates and freeze-dried candy crafted by Ricky & Company.
“Ricky is actually my son,” Nixon said. “He started out when helping me when he was 10, and he’s 17 now. But a couple of years ago, he saved all his money and we split buying a freeze dryer. He started doing freeze-dried candy when we were mobile.”
Their building used to be home to Dogs On The Run which closed in 2024.
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“I used to bring my son up here with a couple of his friends, and we would stop here when it was Dogs On The Run to get some ice cream or whatever, then go to the pool,” Nixon said. “We ended up buying it and redoing the inside. We did everything on our own, except we did have to hire a plumber to move one sink. The rest was just me and my kids.”
Nixon’s sons also helped her build a familiarity with social media platforms like filming TikTok videos together.
“We have digital menus, plus a self order kiosk, and we’re also putting one of them outside,” Nixon said. “We’ve got corn hole, plus we have a little hula-hoop station. We’re trying to make it more of a hangout where you can get some ice cream and have some fun.”
The Arctic Circle is open from 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. every day at 15 S Market St.
Ahead of the ribbon-cutting celebration on May 2, Nixon said Arctic Circle was asked to participate in an event with a Lawrence County biker enthusiasts group.
“It’s called a stamp book and they gave us this poster to hang up,” Nixon said. “We were stop number 95 on their route. And when they came, they signed the back of the poster. They all showed up for our grand opening too, which was a nice surprise.”
Looking ahead, Nixon hopes to expand to another brick-and-mortar shop with more room for displaying confectionaries and sweet treats.
“My favorite part is this side of it, really and being creative. We’ve been making different things, started doing cakes and cupcakes and pies,” Nixon said. “When people buy from you or like it, it’s like a little pat on the back. The next location that we do is definitely going to be bigger so that I can do more of the chocolates, gummy candy and things like that.”
