Report: Dairy Cream set afire intentionally

Gina Vasselli / The Item The Dairy Cream at 267 Broad St. was reportedly set on fire Saturday morning, just a few hours after its reopening Friday afternoon.

Dairy Cream reopens to success, support

By GINA VASSELLI
Item Staff Writer
gvasselli@theitem.com

The Dairy Cream at 267 Broad St. reopened on Friday afternoon, and early the next morning someone set it on fire, according to police reports.

An officer was driving by the ice cream parlor about 2:30 in the morning Saturday when he saw a fire on the inside of the building, a Sumter City police report said.

The fire department was called to the scene, and it determined that the fire was set intentionally.

The arson reportedly caused about $20,000 in damages.

Saturday afternoon the owner of the shop, Nevin Boykin, 35, and others, who had worked since February to get the shop reopened, were at the burnt ice cream parlor to see what was salvageable.

The blue and white exterior is intact, but the interior is charred almost beyond recognition.

"When you put your all into something and see it go like this ...," Boykin said, gesturing to the shop and shaking his head.

Boykin guessed that he had put about $25,000 into getting the shop reopened and said his focus now wasn't what had happened, but getting it open once again.

"I don't have time to be sad," he said. "I gotta rebuild."

He said the building itself was still structurally sound, and some of the larger equipment might still work.

Gina Vasselli / The Item Nevin Boykin, the shop's owner, said he spent about $25,000 preparing for the reopening. The fire reportedly caused $20,000 in damage.

Antoinette Hill, 32, was working as the manager of the shop on Friday. She said they had been waiting to open until the Department of Health and Environmental Control inspected, which happened on Thursday.

She said the shop opened around 2 p.m. and closed about midnight.

"Everybody commented on how beautiful it was yesterday," she said, looking into the broken window.

Hill said she and about three other employees worked at the shop on Friday.

"One day to work, one day to make money," she said.

Boykin said he had no idea who would set fire to the ice cream parlor.

"I hope I get to find out who would do something like this," he said.

The Dairy Cream has been in Sumter since 1949.

Sumter Police Chief Patty Patterson said there are no suspects that she knows of at this time but the investigation by the police and fire departments is ongoing.

Contact Staff Writer Gina Vasselli at gvasselli@theitem.com or (803) 774-1214.