Corey Bernard’s dream business was open for a few short weeks before Harvey’s floodwaters devastated the area.

Now, nearly one year later, the Port Arthur native is back at it again with Bernard’s Elite Detail & Chase Ray’s Shaved Ice, 1848 Savannah Ave. He’s planning on a grand opening blowout from noon to 7 p.m. Saturday, July 21. There will be free snow cones, a bounce house for the kids and a DJ.

“This is less than a mile from where I grew up on 17th Street,” Bernard said while holding his son Chase Ray Bernard.

His uncles work for him and he also employs some neighborhood kids, giving the youth something to positive to do and giving him a chance to lead by example, he said.

He learned the car detailing business partly from family and by researching online.

“You’d be surprised at what you can learn on YouTube,” Bernard, a 2000 graduate of Lincoln High School, said. “I follow one channel, Chemical Guys out of New York and Pennsylvania and the Car Pros out of Dallas. They teach everything detail, carpets to rims. You learn what supplies are good and what’s not good.”

The car detailing portion features different types of car washes from the basic to the advanced.

Bernard got the info on the snow cone business from his aunt, Sharon Bernard, who had a snow cone stand at Main and Gulfway in the 1990s. His aunt was the one who advised him on what machine to get and the ins and outs of New Orleans style shaved ice. The business will also sell concession stand type goodies such as Frito pie, chips, candy, drinks and Koolaid pickles.

It was his idea to combine the two businesses.

“On a hot summer day you want you car washed and want to cool off. It’s a great combo,” he said. “I thought of that on my own.”