Ice Cream Festival In Iowa Celebrates Blue Bunny
Ice Cream Days Is A Family Vacation Event in June
Jun 30, 2009
This ice cream festival and the Blue Bunny ice cream company brings nearly 10,000 people to LeMars, Iowa each June to celebrate the Ice Cream Capital of the World.
Wells' Blue Bunny, the United State's largest family-owned dairy, uses the daily resources of 75,000 cows from as far away as Idaho and California and can make1,200 ice cream bars a minute, The dairy uses eight million pounds of chocolate a year and 1.4 million wooden sticks used for Blue Bunny ice cream novelties each year that, if placed end to end, would circle the Earth three times.
History of Ice Cream
The Wells' Blue Bunny Visitors Center tells the history of ice cream, which dates back to approximately 200 B.C. Little tidbits picked up during the tour include a report that George Washington apparently loved ice cream so much that he once ran up a $200 tab during a 4th of July gathering. It was a woman by the name of Nancy Johnson who invented the hand-crank ice cream freezer in 1848.
The ice cream cone, which was introduced at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, was created to allow the consumption of ice cream on Sundays. Apparently many states once had laws that prohibited the sucking of ice cream soda straws on Sundays, thus the need for more creative ways of serving ice cream.
The story of Wells’ Blue Bunny began with a $250 loan in 1913 with which Fred Wells bought one gray horse, one milk wagon, and two barn cans along with various other milk containers. Through hard work, perseverance and the addition of ice cream to their milk production, Fred Wells, now working with his brother, made it through the Depression and the company began to thrive.
The museum also tells about the county wide contest to come up with a logo for the family dairy, and shows the original artwork of a little blue bunny.
The fun part of the tour comes in the simulated factory production line. The sweet, sugary smells of more than 500 flavors of ice cream and frozen treats at first are a delight to the senses. The room simulates the stirring striping and shaping of ice cream novelties, and how the sticks get stuck in so they remain straight.
Unfortunately, tours do not end with a huge scoop of free ice cream for everyone. Instead, guests depart through a gift shop decked out with every imaginable item needed for setting up an ice cream parlor at home.
Ice Cream Novelties Include the Blue Bunny Bomb PopInvented in 1955 by two brothers from Kansas City, the Bomb Pop is now a Blue Bunny signature item. There are 12 varieties of Bomb Pops, ranging from the Original to Star Wars™ Light Saber Bomb Pops. The last Thursday of June is officially Bomb Pop Day in LeMars Iowa.
Ice Cream Days Each June in Le Mars
Finding ways to promote ice cream is not a problem in Le Mars. During Ice Cream Days, the third weekend of June each year, children have the opportunity to help build the world’s largest paper ice cream cone, which is displayed in July at the Plymouth County Fair.
The key phrase for Ice Cream Days is “free ice cream.” The local bank hosts an old-fashioned ice cream social under the drive-through awning. The Chamber of Commerce provides more free ice cream for kids in the Cleveland Castle Park Playground, and additional opportunities to overload on calcium and sugar can be found at numerous ice cream socials hosted by various civic groups.
Organizers keep hoping for a way to build the world’s largest ice cream sundae for everyone to enjoy throughout Ice Cream Days, but the state health department gets concerned when 10,000 people eat out of the same dish.
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