The ice cream - and vanilla has always been his favourite flavour - was one of his first solid foods.

His older sister Flora Peatling, 10, was a Frugii fan from way back, when the late John Marshall was selling his homemade creations at local markets. Her favourite flavour is chocolate.

"I've never tasted a chocolate ice cream that's been as good as Frugii," she said.

On Tuesday, the young fans had their last taste with the shopfront in Braddon closing down for good after the death of Mr Marshall in February.

With their faces covered in sticky ice cream, the siblings admitted to being sad Frugii was closing.

"I'll miss Frugii," said Flora.

And so will many of us. When Marshall's widow Ed and son Leon announced on June 16 they were closing the store on June 30 they were inundated with condolences and well wishes.

Over the weekend lines snaked their way down Lonsdale Street as people came in to say farewell.

They had intended to stay open every day until closing but had to shut the doors on Monday to make more ice cream after completely selling out.

By Tuesday lunchtime, two flavours had already sold out again. But people were still queuing for chocolate and vanilla, for the iconic salted caramel, and out-there flavours such as juniperberry and musk stick which had become the Frugii trademark.

We'd advise you to get into Braddon now as the doors will only stay open until stock runs out.

"We know the long queues over the weekend were for more than one of John's unique ice cream flavours," Ed said.

"Canberrans came to say goodbye and thank Leon for his dedication to continuing production of the Frugii products over the past few months without his beloved father at his side.

"The outpouring of love and support for us has been overwhelming.

"We would like to say thank you to everyone who has wished us well and shared our sadness in closing John's dream."

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The dream first moved to the Ori Building in January 2015 and Marshall was a major contributor to the renaissance of Lonsdale Street as a foodie haven.

On the day of Marshall's funeral in March, there was a procession down the Braddon street, as vendors who had become firm friends paid their respects.

One of those was Stuart Strutt-Shotton, who opened Enigma Fine Chocolates in the same building in 2019.

At the time he spoke about his endless chats with Marshall about flavour combinations and pushing boundaries in the kitchen.

"John was a bank of knowledge when it came to things like, he was always helpful and generous with his expertise and time and he found great joy in sharing his passion with everyone," he said.

But Marshall's reputation spread wider than the inner city. When domestic goddess Nigella Lawson came to Canberra in 2019 she had Frugii backstage; German chocolatier Georg Bernardini dropped in in the early days as he'd heard about the renowned chocolate ice cream.

If the past year has shown us one thing, it's that businesses come and go. But for so many reasons the closure of Frugii Dessert Laboratory has touched us.

We're a generation of Canberrans who have been spoilt by the passion of a man who had a dream; a man who bundled that dream into a waffle cone and warmed our hearts with the chill of ice cream.

Like Flora says, we will miss Frugii.

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