Carla Sorweide, owner of Hought’s 24 Flavors, serves burgers to a couple on July 1, 2021, in La Grande. Sorweide closed Hought’s on Sept. 15, 2024, and said she is selling her business in the spring.

LA GRANDE — One of La Grande’s historic family-owned ice cream parlors, Hought’s 24 Flavors, closed Sept. 15, 2024, after serving local patrons and tourists since 1951.

Owner Carla Sorweide will be retiring to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, to live near family, but she will sell her business in the spring and assist the new owners in reopening the eatery and ice cream parlor at that time.

“I bought the business in September of 2004 and reopened it on Feb. 14, 2005,” Sorweide said. “Mr. Clair Hought had it from 1951 to 1985, so it sat closed for 20 years before I bought it, and then I had it for 20 years myself.”

When she bought the business, Sorweide said she retained the well-known Hought name because it has a legacy, “and I wanted to keep that going for him,” she said.

A month after Sorweide purchased Hought’s 24 Flavors, Helen Hought died, but Clair Hought lived long enough to be present at Sorweide’s first year anniversary special in February 2006.

“I went to get him and brought him to the store that day so that everyone could meet him,” she said. “A few months later, in June 2006, he died.”

What lies ahead

Since Sept. 15, when Sorweide served her last customer, it’s been hard for her to believe she doesn’t have to open the store and wait on anyone anymore. Instead, she’s been contemplating her future pursuits and reflecting on where her journey has taken her and what she will miss the most when she leaves La Grande.

“I’m really going to miss the customers I made here,” she said.

Sorweide said there has been a lot of interest expressed from potential buyers for Hought’s 24 Flavors and the residence. She will handle all that interest next spring when she returns from wintering in New Mexico. She will also help the new owners reopen the doors next spring.

“The new owners will have to keep the business name, or they won’t be successful,” she said. “I’ll also show them how to save money operating it.”

She feels it’s her solemn duty and privilege to pass along the Hought’s traditions and secret recipes that will take the 74-year-old menu and iconic business into 2025 and beyond.