Entrepreneur's cool treats get business rolling

Quickly wheeling around the cramped workspace, Duckelson Duval loads a commercial ice cream maker with water and sugar, and asks his daughter for a bucket of chopped strawberries.

Stretching from the seat of his wheelchair, he packs the berries in with a spoon using a mirror to see. The owner of Mariah's Water Ice, Duval is too busy keeping customers satisfied during hot summer days to be slowed down by a disability.

"Whether standing or rolling, you still have to sweat to make it," he says.

A longtime entrepreneur, Duval's latest business specializes in Italian ice style treats, with flavors ranging from strawberry to passion fruit and just about everything in between when his three children are concocting new recipes. Working closely with his adolescent-age children while they are out of school for the summer, Duval is thankful to be able to provide them with something productive to do.

"There are a lot of things that deter kids off the right path nowadays, and this is just a positive thing all around," he says.

While ice cream remains an ever-popular summertime favorite, Duval sees room in the marketplace for water ice as more people become health conscious. "A lot of people are diabetic or overweight and looking for a healthy treat," he says, noting many of his flavors are available sugar-free.

While Duval's cool treats are available at his store at 4129 Princess Place Drive, much of his business comes in the form of screaming kids flocking to his truck. "When the sun's beating down and they hear that ice cream music, they come running," he says, "We've never seen an unhappy customer."

Duval hopes his young business will be something his children can benefit from in the future, either paying for college or expanding into a larger operation. "With a lot of hard work," he says, "hopefully the future holds great things for us."