Two happy places, one corner.
Before the turf, the Barktenders and the pup cups, the corner of Brown Road and Hopkins Avenue had a little orange-and-white soft serve stand called Double Happy. Neighbors pulled up to the window for cones, shakes and burgers.
Today it's Bumble's Backyard. The building has a new coat of paint and ten thousand square feet of turf out back, and the soft serve window is still pouring.
How we got here
From a drive-through window to Columbus's first dog park + bar.
- [2017]
Double Happy opens its window
A seasonal, drive-through soft serve stand at Brown and Hopkins, with a sign showing a doubly happy cone. The soft serve was made in-house with A2 milk from Indian Creek Creamery in De Graff, Ohio, and the menu ran to sundaes, shakes, Happy Burgers and waffle fries.
- Best-seller
The Brown and Hopkins shake
Chocolate, hot fudge and peanut butter, named for the intersection out front. It's still on our menu.
- Summer 2020
A backyard full of dogs
Lauryn and Evan Betterton open their own backyard to friends, neighbors and their dogs. Their dog, Bumble, runs the show. It turns into a makeshift dog park, and a pretty great hangout.
- 2023
The stand finds new owners
The Bettertons buy the Double Happy stand and start turning it into a place where dogs play and people stay awhile.
- Oct 26, 2024
Bumble's Backyard opens
Columbus's first dog park + bar: off-leash turf, Barktenders watching every play group, local beer and coffee, and the soft serve window, open year-round.
- 2026
Bees, and a passport
Bumble's Bees, a native pollinator garden, grows along the fences [confirm planting year]. All summer, the Pup Passport sends dogs to nine stops around Columbus.
What we kept
Some things on this corner were too good to change.
The soft serve window
Soft serve cups, the Frosty Lucy and milkshakes, with fall flavors on weekends.
The Brown and Hopkins
The shake named for our corner. Double Happy poured it first, and it's still on our menu.
The corner
Brown Road and Hopkins Avenue, South Franklinton. Same lot, same neighbors, more dogs.
Got a Double Happy memory?
A photo from the drive-through line, a first cone, a summer job at the window. Send it our way and we'll add it to the wall [and to this page, with your OK].