Handel’s Ice Cream will mark 20 years with a daylong celebration of one of Berwyn’s finest: “Big Dan” McMonigle, who passed in late June

Handel’s Ice Cream could easily have made its 20^th anniversary celebration all about Handel’s.

After all, Buck Buchanan’s first ice cream venture has been a hit since Day One, a place so enmeshed in the fabric of family life in Berwyn and beyond, it feels like it’s always been here. Heck, even Adam Sandler famously found his way to Handel’s – and not just once. In two decades, Handels has already achieved “local institution” status. Surely its owners have earned the right to crow a little.

But that’s not how Handel’s rolls. In typical fashion, the ice cream shop’s 20^th birthday bash this Saturday, Aug. 23 will cede the spotlight to Buck’s best friend, Dan McMonigle, the selfless, unassuming man Buck eulogized to an overflow crowd at his Celebration of Life Mass at St. Monica’s in July.

Eleven days after his first heavenly birthday, Big Dan – realtor, Rotarian, surfer, sports fan, music lover, man of abiding faith and uncommon kindness – will be feted again – with balloons, giveaways, games, a kiddie glitter bar, live music and more. Birthday cake-flavored ice cream and root beer floats (Dan’s sweet of choice) will be on the house and 100 percent of the day’s ice cream profits will go to Dan’s favorite charities.

If he were here, Big Dan might cringe at the fuss over him but he’d appreciate that Handel’s was choosing charity over self. It was a choice he had made himself, over and over and over again, for most of his 70 years.

“Dan is a giver,” recalls Buck, still using the present tense two months after Dan’s passing, still fighting tears as he recounts their 40-year friendship. “Here’s just one example: When [a real estate client] was suffering, Dan would sell their house and give them his commission.”

When Handel’s traveling ice cream truck needed an extra hand, Dan would raise his, working for free.

A rock fan who made annual treks to music festivals in Austin and Florida, Dan helped launch the Main Line School of Rock, never taking a paycheck.

He was someone who showed up – for family, friends and strangers alike.

“If I were capable of calling out the names of people whose lives have been impacted by Dan it would be both a Who’s Who and a Who’s He,” Buck had shared in his eulogy.

“Dan was never out for recognition,” adds Stacey Ballard, CEO of Eadeh Enterprises, the civic-minded real estate firm that owns the Handel’s building and significant properties up and down the Main Line. “He helped others because it felt good, because for him, it was the right thing to do. He lived a Christ-like life – if you’re a religious person.”

Not that Big Dan was all holier-than-thou. By all accounts, the guy was flat-out fun – even during the last five years when he was beset with serious health challenges. He spirit stayed buoyant, his faith unwavering.

When he was out of treatment options for his non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and a liver donor miraculously appeared at the eleventh hour, Dan treated the five extra years that the new liver afforded him as a gift. Even after doctors discovered cancer in his spine last January, he did his best to live with gusto and gratitude, his friends and family will tell you.

His Memorial Mass mirrored the man it honored. His spirit was everywhere. The warm-up act was a joyous African-American choir that had the packed church clapping and swaying before the first prayer was spoken. Rather than somber suits, attendees were told to wear “something that connected them to Dan and each other.” St. Monica’s Church was a sea of colorful concert tees, surfer duds, beach sandals and Rotary polos that July afternoon. Each person proudly wore a piece of Dan’s story.

“People talk about holding Celebrations of Life but they’re still morose,” remembers Ballard. “This was truly a celebration of Dan’s life and all that he was.”

As for Handel’s 20^th anniversary, Ballard says she’s “proud to partner” with the Buchanans – “a local family aligned with [Eadeh’s] values that runs one of the most successful Handel’s in the country.” (Yes, Berwyn’s beloved ice cream parlor is actually a franchise, one of 150 Handel’s locations in 15 states. Buck brought Handel’s to the Main Line because he wanted families to have the same sweet Handel’s experience he enjoyed as freckle-faced redhead growing up in Youngstown, Ohio.)

The ice cream shop’s 2022 move across the street to Berwyn’s Bronze Plaza forced Eadeh to turn part of the parking lot into a gathering space, Ballard says. That space quickly became the village’s unofficial town square, a place where friendships are forged in the ice cream line and at the popular Sunday farmer’s market. How fitting, then, that Big Dan, the kindest and friendliest of men, will be honored there this Saturday.

Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream, 573 E. Lancaster Ave. in Bronze Plaza, will celebrate its 20^th anniversary and the life and legacy of Dan McMonigle, Saturday, August 23, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with balloons, giveaways, free sweet treats, glitter bar, live music from the Main Line School of Rock and more. Handel’s will donate profits from ice cream sales for the entire day to one of Dan’s favorite charities.