Ice Cream Days!

It is that glorious time of year when the 9,500 residents of “The Ice Cream Capital of the World®” come together to spread the ice cream joy at our community’s flagship event, “Ice Cream Days”.

Father’s Day weekend is the time when we roll out the red carpet and invite ice cream lovers and anyone who appreciates a good community festival to the city of Le Mars, Iowa, to take in the sights, sounds, and tastes of Americana. Three days of ice cream socials, a parade, a concert in the gazebo in the park, arts festival, rib-grilling contests, competitive run….so much to do!

But this year’s highlight, for me, was playing the coveted role of Blue Bunny® Bomb Pop®.

Now, I don’t know if you understand what this means. You see, the Bomb Pop is an iconic frozen treat that has been popular for over 50 years!! This appointment to don the familiar red, white, and blue packaging is not to be taken lightly. Years of working for a company that makes the Bomb Pop got me to thinking….how does one properly represent the personality of the Bomb Pop?? This led me to perform a character analysis based on the Bomb Pop history….

Having just celebrated its 50th anniversary, the original six-finned Bomb Pop has become iconic with summer. It is rumored that two candy-makers, James S. Merritt and D.S. “Doc” Abernathy found that sales of their chocolate confections declined in the summers’ heat. Sweet-toothed patrons wanted something that was refreshing when the temperatures soared. After several attempts, the two landed (no pun intended) upon the idea of a frozen pop. Since its invention by Merritt and Abernathy in 1955 on Independence Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri, the Bomb Pop® has gone down in the American history books as one of the most popular frozen confections ever created. It is adored by generations past, present, and will continue to be part of the American experience well into the future.

So you can see why I wanted to properly portray the personality of the pop.

So I, along with my fellow packages – The Blue Bunny Champ!® Cone and the Blue Bunny Aspen™ Frozen Yogurt Granola Bar (who, I am certain also did detailed character background studies) danced and pranced, twirled, and whirled our way down the 2 miles parade route properly communicating our excitement to the parade spectators for being invited to participate in the ice Cream Days festivities….

Make sure to take a look at Blue Bunny's Flickr page to see all the “cool” fun we had on Saturday.

Coincidentally, Thursday, June 25, is National Bomb Pop Day. Be sure to celebrate by enjoying one of these super-cool and refreshing red, white, and blue treats. YUM!

Until next time, I remain....1SweetMama (a.k.a Blue Bunny Bomb Pop Extraordinairre)

Sweet Endings

This blog entry will mark the last of the “Summer Vacation” series and I hope you have enjoyed my musings and insights into a really wonderful adventure with my boys, Bud and Peanut.

Our final leg of the tour was a stop in St. Louis to do What St. Louisans Do. We attended a St. Louis Cardinal game (yes, 1SweetMama bleeds Cardinal red!!) and enjoyed frozen custard at Ted Drewes, a local tradition for decades.

Ted Drewes started when Ted Sr. opened his first ice cream store in Florida in 1929, followed by two locations on the north side of St. Louis in 1931. In 1941 the family opened stands on the south side. The current Chippewa location, where we ate, is on the famed old Route 66.

The above photo is the one I took of the stand. Bear in mind, it looks like this pretty much every hour of operation. Frozen custard-hungry patrons patiently stand in line, sometimes 6-8 people deep, for their favorite flavor concoctions. Some like it straight up in vanilla or chocolate, or you can order a Concrete (similar to a Dairy Queen Blizzard) in several varieties. My Concrete of choice is the “Frisco”. Having grown up in St. Louis, I ordered this absolutely yummy flavor a million times. Finally, I asked them why it was called a “Frisco”….they said it was because it is full of fruits and nuts. Their words…not mine.

By the way, the ballgame was great because it was my first time in the new Busch Stadium and I got to see Albert Pujols’ derriere (we were very close behind – no pun intended - the first base line) for 8 glorious innings. The photo is of Bud and Peanut at the ONLY moment the sun shone after we entered the ballpark. Very soon after this photo was taken, storm clouds blanketed the city and we cheered on the Red Birds in a thunderstorm….they never pulled the tarp out and the boys and I finally gave it up at the top of the 8th inning after we realized that the Cardinals could never rebound from a heartbreaking score of 8 to 2. Yes, the Colorado Rockies handed the Cardinals’ butts to them. Oh, well…..at least we knew that our day, and thus our vacationing fun, would end sweetly at Ted Drewes.
And so, on a sweet note, we ended our vacation and returned home the following morning. But we also knew that, at the end of our journey, we would arrive at another destination where life is sweet…..home in the “Ice Cream Capital of the World®”.

And as a sidebar, make sure you come back and read my blog next Tuesday….I will tell you about my experiences this weekend as our community hosts “Ice Cream Days”. If you find you are in the area, you really should come out to Le Mars, Iowa, and take in all the fun and festivities of this flagship ice cream event for our town. And if you happen to read this in time for the parade, you will recognize me….I will be dressed like a package of Blue Bunny® Bomb Pops®. Check out all the Ice Cream Days details by clicking here.