DURHAM - The idea for LocoPops was, founder Summer Bicknell would admit, just plain loco. If she had submitted her plan for a grade in business school, "I would have flunked," Bicknell says. "I had a business plan that bore no resemblance to reality."

Yet here she sits on a sunny afternoon, on a bench outside her Hillsborough Road shop, as customers stream past and into the door. She doesn't advertise, doesn't have a Web site, doesn't take credit cards. Yet Triangle residents have gone loco for LocoPops, Bicknell's unique twist on paletas (pah-LAY-tahs), Mexican-style frozen treats on a stick.

Emily and Gail Vaughn of Raleigh are finishing up their second LocoPops outside the store (cookies and cream and strawberries and cream, respectively).

"The plan is you get two small ones ..." Gail Vaughn begins.

"That way you get to try more flavors," daughter Emily finishes.

Emily's sister, a Duke graduate, introduced the rest of the family to LocoPops. Now they are hooked. When her mother visited Emily in Mexico last summer, they sampled the local paletas.

"And she said, 'This is just like the place in Durham,' " Emily recalls.

Inside, a big whiteboard behind the counter lists the 22 flavors available today, evenly divided between paletas de crema (made with milk and cream) and paletas de agua (made with water).

There's also a hand-drawn globe with the slogan, "Blending the traditions of Mexico with the flavors of the world."

"If you want to boil down the concept of LocoPops, it's that," Bicknell says.

The "traditions of Mexico" are seen in the list of "regulars": creamy lime (like a Key lime pie on a stick), mojito, tamarind, hibiscus and mango chile -- a fruity, spicy favorite in Mexico.

"I had the mango chile in Mexico, and hers is just right," Emily confirms.

"The flavors of the world" show Bicknell's facility with flavors. There are two "FUNky" flavors each week (pear cardamom and rosemary lemon last week) and about a dozen "guest stars" such as chocolate chile, coconut ginger and pineapple basil.

And this year, many of the herbs used to flavor these unusual combinations will come from the Durham garden of SEEDS (South Eastern Efforts Developing Sustainable Spaces), a nonprofit group that encourages urban children and teens to get involved in organic gardening.

Nathan Baines, 18, a junior at Southern High School, is one of those teens. Through DIG (Durham Inner City Gardeners), Baines is already tending rosemary, lavender, peppermint, lemon verbena and several varieties of basil that will eventually flavor LocoPops. Spearmint and thyme will follow this summer, when Baines will intern with Bicknell at LocoPops, learning about the business and perhaps creating his own flavors.

His dream, you see, is to be a chef.

Before DIG, "I didn't have herbs and stuff to cook with," Baines says. Now, although he says "people at school, they be laughing" at the notion, Baines likes to grow herbs like rosemary and use them to flavor chicken.

And his herbs will flavor LocoPops. "At first, I said, 'Dude, that's going to be nasty,' " Baines admits. But now he respects the creativity behind LocoPops. "Nobody else is trying nothing like that," he says.

For her part, Bicknell is glad to be a SEEDS partner. Acknowledging that many of her exotic flavors would have to come from far away, she looked for ways to buy local when she could. The ice cream mix for her milk-based paletas comes from Jackson's Dairy in Spiveys Corner.

"It's part of our corporate strategy," says LocoPops partner Connie Semans of Durham.

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