Ben & Jerry’s Angel Visits Gudnak Booth During Teardown, Saves Everything

It was 9 PM. PAX East was over. The lights were dimming. The Gudnak team was knee-deep in booth teardown — folding banners, packing cards, questioning every life decision that led to this moment — when an angel appeared.

Not a metaphorical angel. A literal human being from Ben & Jerry’s, carrying ice cream. Free ice cream. For us. Specifically.

"We didn’t ask for it," said Tim O’Brien, still visibly emotional weeks later. "We didn’t deserve it. But there she was, with a cooler full of industrial-sized bricks of ice cream, and suddenly the 14-hour day didn’t matter anymore."

The team had no clue when to stop eating because the ice cream came in seemingly endless blocks. Flavors included Half Baked, Cherry Garcia, and something called Phish Food that Ian described as "a religious experience."

Special thanks to the incredible team at Flag Rascals who helped break down the booth. You carried the heavy stuff while we ate ice cream. That's friendship. They were about to drive home to Brooklyn, New York, and we’re fairly certain the ensuing ice cream sugar crash led to some friendship-ending emotional breakdowns somewhere on I-95. We wish them well.

If anyone from Ben & Jerry’s is reading this: we would like to formally request a Gudnak-flavored ice cream. We're thinking dark chocolate base (for the dying sun), swirls of caramel (for the gold of the Refractory), and chunks of portabella mushroom (for the Rotborn, obviously). Call us.