Gus & Yia Yia's is back to slinging summertime treats on the North Side

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Gus & Yia Yia's is back to slinging summertime treats on the North Side

Jeremy Boren | Monday, April 10, 2017 8:48 p.m.

Nate Smallwood | Tribune-Review

Gus Kalaris, 85, of Brighton Heights shaves ice for customers at his ice ball cart on the North Side on Monday, April 10, 2017.

It's summer again on the North Side.

Unofficially, anyway.

Gus Kalaris, owner of Gus & Yia Yia's ice ball cart, reopened for business Sunday at his familiar spot next to the tennis courts on West Ohio Street in Allegheny Commons Park.

Kalaris' wife, Stella Bistolas Kalaris, passed away in October . This is the first week he has been back in business without her.

"Everyone came to see her, no one came to see me," Kalaris, 85, of Brighton Heights said of his wife, whom he married on Valentine's Day in 1954.

He said 500 people attended her viewing last year.

As for the ice ball cart, business is good.

"We were really busy yesterday," Kalaris said on Monday.

It's little wonder with sunny skies, temperatures in the 70s and a Pirates day game against the Atlanta Braves.

He said customers were streaming in Monday as word spread on Facebook that he was open.

Photographer Nate Smallwood contributed.