HOLLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — For the next stop of the West Michigan Scoops Tour, News 8 stopped at Holland-area Captain Sundae.

Captain Sundae, located on Douglas Avenue near Van Dyke Street on the way to Holland State Park, first opened in 1980. Its current owners bought it in 2000, Captain Sundae President Karen Vandam said.

It added a Zeeland location around 2005 and a southside Holland location in 2006, Vandam said.

Vandam first started working at Captain Sundae at 12 years old.

“It was different times back then,” she said with a laugh. “You didn’t need work permits. … So I started here. I worked for five years in high school for (original owner) Lee (Mannes) and then went off to college, worked at Herman Miller for a few years and then when he was ready to sell, we kept in touch and we took over then in 2000.”

She said she’s glad she can carry on the tradition.

An iconic wooden captain stands at every location. The Douglas Avenue location is on its second captain, Vandam explained, after the original one was stolen many years ago.

“Weather does kind of take its toll on him, so he’s constantly being patched and fixed,” she said. “… He’s in a lot of photos.”

Many people from all over have stopped at Captain Sundae over the years, including former President George W. Bush on Sept. 13, 2004. Vandam said he stopped to get a sweet treat while in the Holland area for a rally.

“It was super special,” she said. “We didn’t get a lot of heads up, but he was super friendly, super cordial to all of our customers. It was really a fun day,” Vandam said.

Photos at Captain Sundae commemorate Bush’s visit, along with a visit from Mitt Romney — at the time the former governor of Massachusetts and now a senator for Utah — during his presidential campaign in 2012.

Bush ordered a Tommy Turtle, Captain Sundae’s iconic sundae with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, hot caramel, roasted butter pecans, whipped cream and a cherry.

The Tommy Turtle is among the ice cream spot’s many specialty sundaes. The item has been around since it opened in 1980, but many of the other sundaes on the menu were created by customers, Vandam said.

She said the shop used to hold a “create our next sundae” contest, where customers could submit their own creations. Captain Sundae would offer the top three on the menu and keep the most popular item, she said.

“As you look at our menu, you’ll see a lot of them that were sundae contest winners over the years,” Vandam said.

There are currently around 40 specialty sundaes to choose from, along with soft-serve and hard-serve ice cream, milkshakes, food and more.

As families stop for ice cream, they can also play mini golf at Pirates Landing Mini Golf at the Douglas Avenue location. Vandam said she added mini golf in 2016 when the property next door went up for sale.

“We just thought that would be kind of a cool spot to add a golf course,” she said. “It’s been really fun. It’s a fun place for people to go put the phones down, go enjoy some family time with your kids and your grandkids.”

Outside the mini golf course is “The Moaning Tree,” with a sign that tells the story of Captain Burke: After getting caught in vicious storm on Lake Michigan, he went through the Lake Macatawa channel and dragged his gold inland, the story goes. He fell asleep among some trees, and when he awoke, he found pirates had stolen his gold.

Pirates Landing Mini Golf follows that story throughout the course, Vandam said.

She said she wants Captain Sundae to be a place where people can come and make memories with their families.

“We try to provide a family-friendly environment with lots of unique sundaes and creations that give people some choices that they might not find at your typical ice cream store,” she said. “We try to be unique in that way. We really strive for (a) high-quality and clean environment.”