SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. — The impacts of the Fourth of July parade shooting in Highland Park, Illinois are reaching far and wide including here in West Michigan.
A man known by many in South Haven was injured that day and is now recovering.
The man named Arnie is a regular at Sherman's Dairy Bar, and the staff said they look forward to seeing his smiling face.
That's why they asked their Facebook following to pray for him as he recovers.
"He is just a sweet guy. He has been coming here for decades," said Hannah Felty, a manager at Sherman's Dairy Bar.
The below post is what Sherman's Dairy Bar put on Facebook on Wednesday night, asking the community to keep Arnie in their prayers.
"With so many shootings happening in the country lately we become slightly desensitized to all of that stuff. When someone that you know and you love seeing around is hurt, it definitely makes it just that more sad," said Felty.
Arnie is the man in the photo above and visits Sherman's Ice Cream five to six times a week when he is in South Haven.
Staff said he travels back and forth from Michigan to Illinois.
"When he is here, he’ll come in for a shake and sit down in the lobby, and then we he goes back to Chicago, we pack like six or seven of them for him," said Felty.
Workers said everyone knows him at Sherman's because he has his own special.
"An ‘Arnie Shake’ is six pumps of chocolate syrup, no milk, and then vanilla ice cream, and we have to make sure it's extra smooth, and he doesn't ever want to spoon he just drinks it with a straw," said Felty.
They said his goal is to have 100 shakes a summer, and he never strays from his regular.
"That’s the only thing he ever gets, ‘Arnie Shake.’ The entire time he has been here. It's like, like our secret menu item. You know, sometimes he tells other people about it in South Haven, and they'll come in and ask for an ‘Arnie Shake.’ Everyone knows what it is even though it's not on our menu," said Felty.
He sits at one of their tables for around an hour or two, reading a book or chatting it up with workers.
They said they're hoping for his speedy recovery, so he can come back to enjoy his shakes.
"He has always been a loyal customer to us, so we always try to be as good to him as we can," said Felty.
Staff said Arnie got the metal piece out of his shoulder Thursday morning and was in good spirits.
Sherman's Ice Cream is located at 1601 Phoenix St, South Haven, MI 49090. It is open seven days a week from 11:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
