The Charlottesville 29

One of my favorite childhood treats was ice cream after the doctor’s office. For major visits – like stitches – I’d be allowed to order anything I wanted. Instead of the usual single scoop, everything was fair game.

Ever since, ice cream and the doctor’s office have just gone together. Which makes the second location of Charlottesville ice cream parlor SugarBear so ideal. It’s at 2405 Ivy Road, beside Pediatric Associates of Charlottesville. Nervous children getting shots may soon associate ice cream and doctors’ visits, just as I always have. It’s a match made in heaven.

This is a pattern for SugarBear, as its first location in the happiness hub with Hogwaller and Rivanna River Company, was also a match made in heaven.

SugarBear is the brainchild of ice cream school graduate Emily Harpster, whose inspiration is to use Charlottesville ingredients to tell stories through ice cream. While her initial plan was a wholesale business, she opened a parlor in 2024 to spread some happiness, and now has the bug to spread more. “It turns out that the art of conjuring something from nothing is addictive, and I’d like to give it another go,” said Harpster.

Why this space and time? As for the space, anchored by a brewery, the location is like another little happiness hub west of town, with Selvedge Brewing, Bellair Market, and Charlottesville Center for the Arts. And the space itself provides a new creative outlet for Harpster, with something her first location lacks: indoor seating. “We love creativity, and this will push us in a different direction design-wise from ice cream garden to ice cream greenhouse — light, bright, and full of life and sweet things,” said Harpster. Architect Stephanie Williams and builder Sanger Carpentry – the duo behind places like Hogwaller, Lampo, and Cafe Frank – will make that vision a reality.

As for the timing, a new year brings new chapters and resolution, Harpster says. “Resolution to learn, to make it work, to make it all count, to honor people, and to try and create the kind of place that enables people to spend a little good time together, which is the thing that truly counts.”

The heart of SugarBear is community collaboration, and SugarBear fans can expect the same great flavors as the original location – Wild Woman Whiskey, Dreamsicle, Girl Power, Golden Milk, Maple Pecan, etc. – plus whatever creations 2026 brings. Sounds better than my triple scoop of pink bubblegum at the Baskin-Robbins on Elm Street.

Follow along on SugarBear’s Instagram page, for the latest.