After a long, chilly winter, the wait is now over. Ice cream shops are slowly opening for the season.

Sure, we've been able to get pints of ice cream from the grocery store during the winter, but it's not the same. Ice cream is synonymous with summer and the reopening of area ice cream shops harkens the coming of summer and sun.

But it's not just a matter of unlocking the doors and serving up cones. For seasonal ice cream shops like Tom Thumb Drive-In on Owasco Lake, a good scrubbing and lots of repair work are required before they can open for business.

Tom Galbato, owner of Tom Thumb, spends the winter in Florida and is never quite sure what he'll return to in the spring when he's ready to reopen. This winter a pipe burst and had to be replaced, but Galbato said it wasn't that bad. The biggest hassle in getting the place ready is the cleaning.

"Opening and closing is the worst thing about this business. You have to clean and clean and clean. That's the most important thing," he said.

For Galbato, it takes about two weeks to get the place up and running. While he and his employees thoroughly scrub the shop down before closing in late fall, dust and cobwebs collect over the winter. Galbato does much of the cleaning himself with the help of his family and a few regular employees to get ready for his April 9 opening.

Tom Watkins, owner of Reese's Dairy Bar, has already done all the reopening work for this season. His shop opened March 18, the third Friday of the month when he opens every year. It took him about two weeks to get the place operational, but he had been planning his orders since the end of January.

Watkins agrees that the cleaning is the worst part of running a seasonal restaurant.

"In the off-season, there's tons of cleaning. It involves crawling around on your hands and knees. The place gets a really good scrubbing," he said.

Not only do the seasonal ice cream shops have to make everything nice and neat before the spring rush, they also have to make sure all the machines are up and running. Neither Watkins nor Galbato had any major issues with any of their machines, but they did have to do some basic maintenance.

Tom Henderson, assistant manager of Skan-ellus Drive-In in Skaneateles, said it only too them about a week to get ready to open. A few machines needed new parts and a few pipes burst over the winter, but they were able to get everything fixed before they opened on March 3.

Henderson thinks opening is a lot better than closing, especially because there's something to look forward to in the spring.

"You have to do a lot of cleaning when you close. Opening is easier," he said.

Watkins, who makes much of the ice cream sold at Reese's, was busy turning out batch after batch of ice cream a week before they opened. He made 50 batches, but said at the rate people have been coming in, he might have to make some more soon.

"People are really hungry for any short of ice cream. They can't wait," he said. "Business is pretty good. People are usually pretty excited that we're back."

At Tom Thumb, Galbato said people have been clamoring for him to open his doors.

"A tlot of people have been asking me, 'When are you open, when are you open?' People just wait for us to open," he said.

That is certainly the case at Skan-ellus. On a pleasant weekday afternoon, about a dozen people queued for ice cream and curly fries and hamburgers.

"If the weather gets nice, people come out," Henderson said. "All it takes is a bit of sunshine."