Cool Off at Canyon Lake’s Candy Mountain Shaved Ice

Lifelong Canyon Lake resident Cassidy Cade says the concoctions she whips up at Candy Mountain Shaved Ice, located across the street from Mountain Valley Middle School, aren’t just for kids.

There’s the state trooper who pulls up alongside her stand and orders a chocolate whipped-cream flavored shaved ice.

Tatted ex-convicts whisper when they ask her to add gummies.

Some grownups, usually from out of town, just buy shaved ice — their favorite flavorings are down the street at the liquor store.

And the thousands of kids who show up each summer?

Cade said they tend to prefer Tweetie Bird with cream, watermelon with chemoy, and Warheads with sour spray. Those are just a few of the favorites for youngsters, whose favorite flavors — out of all 109 sold at Shaved Mountain — are Tiger’s Blood and Rainbows.

She likens herself to a bartender, whipping up various combinations of flavors, creams, toppings and candies at Candy Mountain, which mother Pat Cade opened 21 years ago.

Cade started working the stand when she was only 13, knowing that someday, she’d own it.

“This is not work for me,” she said. “It’s not work at all, actually…I get to see parents with their first kid or their child that has never known what a shaved ice is, to put a smile on the kid’s face, and also there is something memorable, it’s something great.”

What it’s not is a snow-cone or snowball stand, Cade said.

Hanging in Candy Mountain is a poster of Batman slapping Robin for making that mistake.

Snow cones are what you get from a fair, she said. They’re hard ice mixed with juice.

“Shaved ice is a different subject,” Cade said. “Like snow, it melts in your mouth like cotton candy. That’s how I kind of think of it in my words. You get every single taste of the flavor that you buy in your mouth.”

Just ask visitors from Louisiana, who prefer chocolate.

“It becomes like a milkshake for most people,” Cade said.

Candy Mountain Shaved Ice is located at 1312 Sattler Road in Canyon Lake. Hours are 1 to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday.