The store was part of a defunct Florida franchise. The one Jim saw in the photo was purchased by a man in 1992 and placed in an amusement park in Lakewood, N.Y. The Internet offer included the building, as well as all of the equipment.

"He printed it out as a joke," Colleen said. But when she saw it, "I said, 'I have to have it.'"

Both Jim, 46, and Colleen, 43, recalled the numerous pieces of "roadside architecture" that dotted the highways when they were children. Colleen hopes the big cone will be part of a revival of the time when it wasn't unusual to see giant teapots, ship-shaped hotels and ice cream cones beckoning motorists.

After the deal was made, the store was dismantled into 23 fiberglass pieces and trucked to the vacant lot at the intersection of Route 980 and Burnside Road.

The Tatanos, with the help of many relatives, reassembled the building on a concrete pad, beginning in June 2004. They painted over the chocolate topping and cherry that had adorned the original building. Colleen, who had done advertising and marketing for a decade in Washington, D.C., before returning to Canonsburg, knew she wanted something distinctive to top off the cone.

A graduate of the University of Maryland, home of the terrapins, Colleen decided the logo would be a turtle and the business would be called Turtle Twist.

The giant cone was assembled by the fall, an addition for an office and a drive-up window were added, and the Tatanos attended one of Penn State University's famous ice cream seminars to learn more about the business they were entering. They located a person who creates giant animal figures for amusement parks and topped the cone with a 3-foot-high green turtle.

After trying the products of several dairies, the Tatanos settled on a custard, a premium ice cream product that contains at least 10 percent butterfat and 1.4 percent egg yolk. Jim explained that the butterfat content and egg yolk in the ice cream mix create a creamy and rich-tasting product.

Like many people who approach the opening day of a new business with trepidation, the Tatanos acknowledged that they were nervous. In addition to Colleen's ad and marketing background, Jim had sold steel; their only retail experience was a short time that Colleen had sold candles before stopping work to raise their two children.

"It was three weeks before the April opening and none of us had made a cone," Jim said. Colleen called a friend who has an ice cream stand to ask about how much inventory she should carry. The friend faxed her back her inventory list.

The dairy that would provide the custard invited the Tatanos and their staff to the ice cream plant for a tour and everyone began practicing the way to serve cones.

Now, with three months in the business, the couple seem relaxed.

"We're comfortable; we're happy with the way it's going," Jim said.

To Colleen, the best part of the business is offering a place for families to visit that isn't expensive and doesn't involve a long drive.

"It's old-fashioned, family fun," she said, noting that already families from Canonsburg and Cecil Township are meeting each other at the picnic tables in front of the big cone.

The couple offers vanilla and chocolate custard at all times, and a third flavor that changes each week. Sundaes and several other treats come topped with a small, green turtle made of white chocolate.

The couple plan to keep the business open from April through October each year. Once the initial season is over, Colleen said, they'll begin attending industry conventions for new ideas. She's already considering adding ice cream cakes and pies.

"I'm excited to go to see what's really out there," she said.