A stream of water jetting from the top of the fire truck covered most of the hill between the basketball courts and the playground at Domann Park Saturday morning.

The Auxvasse Fire Department arrived on the scene just before 11 a.m., but they weren’t there to put out any fires. Their job was to keep the waterslide, set up by the City of Auxvasse Park Board, wet all afternoon, and they took their job very seriously.

It was the second annual Auxvasse Back to School Bash and the community came out to enjoy the last bit of summer they had left with free food, drinks and games.

"School is starting up soon so you might as well have fun while you can,” Carrie Wenneker said.

The Slip-n-Slide inspired attraction was a new addition this year and it was a big hit for kids, parents and even the mayor.

“We had kickball, basketball and volleyball all planned, but they focused on the waterslide,” Wenneker said. “It’s fun and keeping everyone cool.”

The only thing that could draw the crowd away from the slide, even if only for a few moments, was the siren song of an ice cream truck coming across the open field.

Zyonna Evans, owner of Show Me Ice Cream LLC, took a break from playing to give out free ice pops to eager customers – tossing them from the truck as soon as it was parked.

The 9-year-old entrepreneur from Auxvasse was also celebrating her final days of summer before she starts fourth grade.

A year ago, after an unpleasant interaction at another ice cream truck, Zyonna had the idea to start selling ice cream herself.

The truck and all the ice cream for her first season in business was gifted to her by her brother Eastin Burgher.

His investment gave Zyonna the ability to focus her attention on marketing herself and her business while also learning how to be a small business owner. And she has already had her fair share of curveballs thrown her way, including a burned-up inverter that cost $2,000 to repair on one of the hottest days of the summer.

“If it’s not plugged in, you just wasted $20,000,” she said.

Zyonna said she is out in the truck selling ice cream between four and six days a week in the summer and she travels all over the state, even going as far as Quincy.

“Last summer was boring, like really boring, and we wanted to do something to make people laugh,” Zyonna said.

She has only been in business for three months working just a couple hours in a day, but in that time she has raked in over $11,000.

“She’s literally got her first car paid for in 90 days,” Matthew Burgher said, beaming.

Matthew is Zyonna’s step-father who is primarily responsible for driving the truck – he leaves the rest of the operations up to her. She uses his phone to track all of her sales and Matthew said Zyonna is a natural saleswoman who is always ready to strike a deal with her customers.

“We’re done for this year because school is about to start and it’s about to get really cold so we’re not going to buy any more ice cream until next year,” Zyonna said.

The hope for Show Me Ice Cream, Zyonna said, is to at least have it for another three years and to have fun with it. She will be very busy pushing sales the next few days until she runs out of ice cream.

Then, it’s just a matter of waiting for the first warm day next year to do it all over again.

For more photos, see The Mexico Ledger’s online photo galleries