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)

Stupid Ice Cream Gifts and Other Things That Irritate Me

Tell me….in what kind of society do we live in that we have become too lazy to lick our ice cream cones? I came across the most ridiculous item at Urban Outfitters.

So we, as a species, have evolved to the point where it is too inconvenient for us to rotate our wrists around to lick an ice cream cone? Puh-leeze! Don’t our hip and fashionable buddies at Urban Outfitters know this action is, for many people, one of just a few remaining forms of exercise? There are many wellness programs out there that include ice cream cone wrist rotations, remote control finger lunges and 12 ounce mug/can curls. How can UO take this away from us? I guess if you count yourself among “the beautiful people”, you can afford to invest in an item that rotates a cone for you while you simply stick your tongue out and enjoy effortless ice cream eating.

How lazy have we become?? Talk about your stupid gift items – there are 5 in this hilarious video I found!

And another thing…or should I say: And another thong. Not a typo…it is an actual undergarment with an ice cream image on it. I have seen several versions of this item all over cyberspace. Apparently anyone who has access to a screen printer feels a primal urge to imprint sexy lingerie with images of ice cream cones and Bomb Pops®. Well, if that does it for you…. For me, I have one word: ick.

All I have to say is this, “Why on Earth didn’t I think of that first?”