With a father in the ice business, Garnavillo native Brandon Adams is comfortable in the cold. But it was on a hot summer day that the enterprising young man had an idea that led to an award-winning invention.

Adams is the inventor and owner of Arctic Stick, a plastic device that holds any liquid and is designed to be frozen and placed into a beverage bottle. The stick immediately cools beverages that have been left out and need to be cooled. The device can also be used to add a shot of flavor to drinks in bottles or glasses.

“I was in my truck and I reached down for a drink of water and it was warm,” Adams said looking back to that fateful day. “It was right there it hit me. I needed to come up with a device that could hold water, be frozen and be dropped into any bottled beverage. It was in the truck that day that the idea for the Arctic Stick was born.”

At the time, Adams was a college student attending Iowa State University in Ames. As fate would have it, he took a class on entrepreneurship that included an assignment that would breathe life into Adams’ idea. The assignment was a contest that required students to come up with a product and pitch it to their fellow students. The students would then vote on the best idea. It was Adams who won.

“That was a big step forward,” the now 24-year-old says. “That was proof of concept. It showed me that there was a demand for my product.”

During the next two years Adams refined the product, built the brand and continued to build his entrepreneurial skills. In 2013, Adams had the final prototype made and a handful delivered for testing.

“To have the Arctic Stick in my hands — and to be able to actually use it — was exhilarating,” Adams says. “It was a big moment to see this idea turn into a tangible product. It took a lot of effort and tenacity to get to that point, but once I had them in my possession, I knew this was a product that was going to sell.”

Today, Adams is embarking on the most nerve wracking portion of his journey to date: Raising funds to mass produce the Arctic Stick. He has turned to the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter.com to help him.

“Throughout the process of developing the Arctic Stick it has been a team effort,” Adams says. “I received incredible business counsel and product development advice from long-time inventor and entrepreneur Cactus Jack Barringer. I have had contributions from talented designers and marketing experts. I have worked closely with the manufacturer and product development firm. It just felt right to launch a grassroots campaign to secure funding for the tooling and initial inventory.”

Kickstarter.com allows individuals to pledge funds to the Arctic Stick in return for a number of rewards including three-packs of the Arctic Stick, t-shirts and more. The funding campaign will run through August 1, 2014. Adams’ goal is to raise $24,500.

Adams is a native of Garnavillo, Iowa and now splits his time between there and Des Moines. In addition to Arctic Stick, Adams owns the Adams Ice distributorship.

For more information about Adams and the Arctic Stick, search “Arctic Stick” on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn or Instagram. You can also visit ArcticStick.com