At Bahama Bucks, people walk with cups overflowing with thin-shaved ice in deep, rich colors. The ice, piled much higher than the edge of the cup, reminded one of an iceberg – what is seen is just a small preview of what’s below.

One girl held a cucumber-flavored treat, another had cherry-red flavor seeping deep into the ice. One dad sipped a frozen lemonade, while a young customer bit into her cinnamon-flavored thin ice loaded with piccadilly.  “It’s my favorite,” said Elyssa Lopez, who was playing Jenga with her two sisters and two brothers as they enjoyed a family afternoon gathering at Bahama Bucks, located at 3817 N. 10th Street in McAllen.

Inside the restaurant, friends and families gathered to eat their favorite flavor of sno – including super sour flavors and sugar-free thin ice – or to drink a shake, eat ice cream or sip the fresh smoothies and  frozen lemonade. Some add toppings such as chamoy, chili salt, rainbow sprinkles or piccadilly. They also spend quality time together: many of the groups put away cell phones to play Jenga, UNO or Connect 4.  Some buy a box of thin-ice sno-balls to take home and throw at one another.

“When you walk in, you can see workers shaving the sno and making the product in front of you,” said Thelma Cavazos-Tribble, one of four Bahama Bucks owners. “It’s the finest sno I’ve ever had. To be able to spend time with family and regrouping is wonderful.”

The Rio Grande Valley is where raspas rule.  There is no lack of competition for the icee, slurpee, sno-cone, raspa market. Cavazos-Tribble, however, had no doubt that Valley residents would enjoy what Bahama Bucks has to offer. After all, she is a Valley native, born in Weslaco and raised in McAllen until she moved to San Antonio for college.

“It’s my hometown, my community and I still have many ties there,” she said. “It’s because the community knows and loves raspas so much that we believed they would fall in love with this product. The Valley is a perfect place for Bahama Bucks, because the people really know what it is.  They have truly embraced us.”

The McAllen location, which opened March 8, is the first in the Valley. The group owns the rights to Hidalgo County and Harlingen. She said the owners plan to expand throughout the Valley.  For people who may have a long drive to get to the McAllen location she offers this advice, “Be patient; we’re coming your way.”

Cavazos-Tribble and co-owner Cindy Ramirez from Harlingen were both pregnant and in the mood “for a good raspa.” They had heard of Bahama Bucks but had not visited one, so they decided to try it. They immediately fell in love with the multitude of combinations of sno and other products, many times waiting in the drive-thru for 30 minutes or more to get their sno.

When researching Bahama Bucks, Cavazos-Tribble was impressed by the flavors she tasted. The blueberry muffin sno tasted like the actual muffin. “The flavors are just spot on,” she said. “They tried doing banana and found out people didn’t like that taste, so they did Laffy Taffy banana and people loved it. They put a lot of effort into their syrups.”

One of Bahama Bucks’ unique products is the Bahama-Rama-Mama. It is a scoop of ice cream at the bottom, topped with a choice of flavored sno and then completed with Tropi Creme. Cavazos-Tribble recalled one customer got creative with the Bahama-Rama-Mama. “Someone created an apple one where they had their ice cream and then the sour apple sno and topped it off with caramel,” she said. “I love when people are creative.  So far there isn’t anything I’ve come across that I don’t like.”

Joey Guerrero, a Pharr resident, has made several trips to Bahama Bucks with his children over the summer. He enjoys watching the children eat their sno and play games. On this occasion, they even had a sno-ball war outside. To make a good trip even better, he usually spends $20 or less to have treat for all five kids.

“It’s a perfect place to go with the family and not expensive. You can stay indoors or when the weather cools, sit out on the patio,” he said. “They can enjoy the treats, play games and even throw sno-balls at each other. With the heat in the Valley, those are great reasons to come here.”

For more information, see bahamabucks.com.

September 2016 feature story by Henry Miller