Thursday, October 1, 2026

Coming Up In The Payson Chronicle

PICTURED: Portrait of Milton and Trilma Jarvis, along with home movie stills recording the grand opening of Milt’s Polar Queen on June 18, 1958.

Summer of ‘58 — Cars lined up all down the block to get to Milt’s Polar Queen for the drive-in restaurant’s grand opening. Deluxe hamburgers, malts and shakes were on sale for 19 cents a piece. Fifteen-cent ice cream sundaes cost a dime on opening day.

A brick and block mason by trade, Milton Jarvis and local carpenters constructed the drive-in restaurant’s building that still stands, with some modifications, at 745 Highway 198 in Payson.

“Milt’s Polar Queen, as it was known to everyone in the area, was for years the most popular and busiest food drive-in in the Payson area for over 12 years,” Ron Jarvis said. “It was the place to go.”

His grandfather Milt ran Polar Queen with his wife Trilma Jarvis and family. Ron’s parents Jack and Lazawn Jarvis took over the business when it came time for the elder Jarvises to retire.

More to come in The Payson Chronicle weekly newspaper.