This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

A cold treat on a hot summer afternoon isn't just a refreshing time for Ralph Pace. It's a career choice.

Pace makes a living stirring up juice, then freezing and molding it into Pace's signature frozen bars.

"When I first started getting our Popsicles into stores, we had five or six people already in the industry tell us we would never be able to make a living off this since there were already hundreds of products similar to ours," he says.

Well, Pace proved the experts wrong. The little firm that could, did - and now sells more than 4 million Pace Bars a year in Utah, making its product one of the top-selling flavored ice treats for stores that distribute the frozen treats.

That surprises Pace, considering the odds against the family when his grandfather started the business 50 years ago. Grandfather Gordon Pace started out by opening Pace Dairy Ann, a small eatery next to his house in Bountiful that makes hamburgers and ice-cream bars. He crafted the ice cream by hand in a little tank with eight molds, which made about 40 dozen ice-cream bars an hour.

"The ice-cream bars we used to make would melt all over the kiddies who bought them, so we developed the Pace Popsicle as a chewy bar with a wonderful taste that wouldn't melt so quickly," Gordon Pace recalls.

Only a few family members - including Ralph Pace and his two sons - know the recipe.

"We do three things differently when making the recipe that allows one to enjoy the taste with the first bite and makes the Popsicle slushier than most others," Ralph Pace says.

Ralph Pace began helping his grandpa with the bars when he was 3 years old.

"I remember standing on two milk crates stacked on top of each other to reach the counter so I could put sticks into each mold," he says. "As a little boy, I wanted to be with my dad, who also worked for Gordon Pace. So I got up at 4 in the morning to go with him some days."

Years later, the business is still in the family - and business is brisk. Gordon Pace's grandsons have taken over the restaurants and the Pace Bars trade. Ralph Pace worked at the hamburger shop until about 10 years ago, when he took over the frozen bars side of things and talked his grandfather into letting him distribute the product to stores in the area.

The Pace factory in North Salt Lake started out with one tank that made about 700 Pace Bars an hour. Two more tanks have been added over the years, boosting the business's output to nearly 4,000 an hour.

"I'm one of these guys that like to tinker with putting things together and making things work," Ralph Pace says.

For example, he built and revamped a couple of tanks now in use and is currently working on an automated machine that will double the plant's output.

The original flavors are peach, cherry, grape and lime. A year ago, Ralph Pace developed some new flavors: root beer, banana, blue raspberry and tiger's blood, which is a mixture of strawberry and coconut.

To make the Pace Bars, Ralph Pace makes 500 gallons of punch to be cooled overnight in two tanks. In the morning, he splits the punch into four tanks and adds the flavoring. The punch is then poured into

stainless-steel molds, which are set in salt-water tanks that have fridge coils and a propeller that circulates the salt water, which freezes the punch into the bars in about 15 minutes.

Ralph Pace then uses a stick holder to line up the sticks right in the middle, which are then frozen to the bar. The bars are pulled out of the tank to let the salt water drain. After being set in warm water for 10 seconds, the mold is released from the bars and is ready to be filled again.

The Pace Bar business is a family affair.

"My daughters and sons have all come down and worked here," Ralph Pace says.

He plans to debut a sugar-free bar by next year.

"It's been hard trying to get them close to the same texture as our regular bars, but I'm real close," he says.

Pace Bars are found at any Associated Foods store. They are also at the Pace's Drive-In at 344 N. Main in Layton, or in Clearfield at 300 N. 1090 West.