With summer come snowballs. Such is the way of life in Arbutus.

It's been that way for many, it seems, since Adolf and Betty Gapsis began selling the shaved ice concoctions from their front porch on Sulphur Spring Road more than 40 years ago.

And it's that way again this year -- perhaps more so than ever.

At the corner of Carville Avenue and Sulphur Spring Road, the Eskimo Shack has been selling snowballs for about seven years.

Across the street, at the corner of Oregon Avenue and Sulphur Spring, Laura Henn has reopened the snowball stand that had once been a staple in town.

But that was before Bruce and Brian Gapsis, the sons of Adolf and Betty, grew the family business into Koldkiss -- one of the country's oldest suppliers of ice shavers and syrups, according to their Web site -- and got out of the habit of running local stands.

On May 8, Henn opened her "Shivers Snowballs" stand on the site.

Henn acknowledges that opening a snowball stand directly across the street from an entrenched competitor may seem strange.

But she cites the history of the location as reason enough for the decision.

"There's a lot of history to this stand, as far as Arbutus is concerned," she said. "I like to think that if people come here, it will be like stepping back in time, like when they were a kid. I can make (snowballs) just like (the Gapsis brothers) did."

That history is a personal one as well. Henn grew up in Lansdowne and used to work for the Gapsis brothers when she was a teenager. She worked at the Arbutus stand and their other stand on Maiden Choice Lane, she said.

She once cut her finger nearly in half on the ice shaving machine and still has the scar to prove it.

She went on to work in their Koldkiss warehouse in the city, then ran her own snowball stand for several years next to the Speedy Mart on Hollins Ferry Road in Lansdowne.

Area residents may remember "the purple buggy stand," for her purple Volkswagen Beetle theme, she said.

Then she left the business.

"I thought my snowball days were behind me," she said with a smile.

Then, this Easter, she and her husband, Raymond -- who live just up the street on Link Avenue -- stopped in town to get flowers for his mother.

They saw a "For Rent" sign on the stand and decided to investigate a little more.

Henn called Terry Nolan, a local lawyer and president of the Arbutus Business and Professional Association who owns the stand, and the deal was made.

On May 10, as the afternoon sun shone brightly, lines of people formed at both Henn's stand and the Eskimo Shack.

George and Lynn Miller, longtime residents of Arbutus Avenue, ordered from Henn.

Lynn Miller said she remembers the Gapsis brothers operating the stand where Henn is now, and said it is "nice to have it back."

She said she can even recall the days when Adolf and Betty Gapsis sold snowballs from their porch, and students from Arbutus Elementary School would run to order their favorite flavors after school in the afternoon.

"That was neat," she said. "The crossing guard up there would say, 'Come on kids, control it. Line up,' because they'd all be running for it."

Sunday, Miller ordered her favorite, spearmint with marshmallow, while her husband ordered egg custard, a snowball classic and Henn's biggest seller.

Henn said she hopes to capitalize on people's nostalgia.

A big sign on the side of the stand reads, "The original Arbutus Snowball is back! Try one today! The best has returned!"

Until Labor Day, she will be open seven days a week, she said, opening at 4 p.m. on weekdays until school lets out, and then at noon thereafter.

She already opens at noon on the weekends.

Henn has about 60 flavors, and is always adding more, she said.

"I have friends over, and we try out different mixes," she said. "Then if we like it, we come up with a name for it. It's kind of like a fun pastime."

If you can eat her extra large snowball -- $3.50 -- in one sitting, you get your name on the Snowball Wall of Fame, she said.

Henn's stepsons, Nathan, 11, and Ray, 10, and her son, Andrew, 2, and daughter, Ellie, 7 months, were all at the stand with their father on Sunday.

Nathan said it is "cool" to have "our own snowball stand."

Across the street, Baron Saradpon, whose family owns the Eskimo Shack, said the competition is "not bad."

"We have a lot of loyalty around here," he said.

"People are still buying snowballs. Arbutus loves snowballs."

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