Various Brownsville businesses in recent months have welcomed Ford’s BlueOval City with signs displaying their excitement about the potentially life-changing project. A new Brownsville soda fountain came up with a tastier way to celebrate BlueOval City’s arrival.
Livingston’s Soda Fountain and Grill, 60 S. Washington Ave., opened in Brownsville’s town square in March about 15 minutes from the BlueOval City site in Stanton.
Livingston’s is owned by couple Jack and Glenda Pettigrew. When the soda fountain opened, Glenda already had five Brownsville-themed milkshakes on the menu — including one for music icon Tina Turner, a Brownsville native.
The BlueOval City milkshake, which became available Wednesday, is birthday cake-flavored to celebrate the project’s birth, Jack said. It’s topped with blue sprinkles and also served with a blue sucker.
“This was something we wanted to do for Brownsville to help the community along,” Jack said about the milkshake and Livingston’s. “With Ford coming in after we got the project in, we hope that we can do anything to help them and help this community and get some growth and excitement.”
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One day, Ford Workforce Development Manager Andy Bianco was sitting at Livingston’s counter having a milkshake and started chatting with the Pettigrews. During the conversation, the idea for a BlueOval City milkshake began, Jack said.
Ten months ago, Ford officials, along with South Korean company SK On, announced plans for the $5.6 billion BlueOval City project to produce the next generation of F-Series electric trucks and electric vehicle batteries at a 3,600-acre site in Stanton. The project is expected to create about 5,800 jobs and begin production in 2025.
Jack, 72, is a retired physician who has lived in Brownsville his whole life. His father was the local Brownsville pharmacist in the 1950s and 1960s. He would visit his dad at work and often get a special treat at the pharmacy’s soda fountain.
More than 60 years later, his dream of opening a soda fountain in his father’s memory became a reality in March. Livingston’s is four doors down from his father’s old pharmacy. The “retro-themed soda shop” has various shake, malt, float, soda, sundae and sandwich offerings.
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