Residents cherish local ice cream shops as fall approaches

By Kendra Raymond

I don’t know about you, but for our family, the final days of summertime can only mean one thing: ice cream! Businesses in the Lakes Region are ready, willing, and able to support our habit, offering a profusion of creamy goodness right at our fingertips. This works out great, so no matter in what direction we venture, most any trip can include ice cream.

An official tester samples a cool treat earlier 
this summer at the Ice Cream Dugout
in Windham.
PHOTO BY CHEYANNE GAGNON

So how do we explain this special place held in the hearts of many Mainers? Perhaps it is the sheer joy that winter has ended, or the abundance of dairy farms? Is it part of the local culture to have a locally owned ice cream shop in most every community?

The Visit Maine website says: Ice cream lovers throughout the state are rising to the challenge to make the best, freshest, homemade ice cream. Maine now boasts an abundance of special ice cream, from traditional to innovative.

The answer is obvious – no one knows.

Windham’s Ice Cream Dugout owner Cheyanne Gagnon offers her thoughts on the subject.

“I feel like ice cream is such a big thing in Maine because we wait so long through a cold, awful winter,” she said. “Once we get the first sign of spring, people are excited to get out and try some ice cream.”

Now that we have the “scoop,” let’s debunk a few ice cream semantics mysteries:

Frappe vs. milkshake

So here is a good debate – what is the difference between these equally delicious beverages?

The American Heritage College Dictionary defines a milkshake as a beverage that is made of milk, ice cream, and often flavoring and is blended or whipped until foamy. Also called shake; also called regionally cabinet, frappe, velvet. In New England it is a beverage made of milk and flavored syrup, whipped until foamy.

There we have it – in New England a milkshake has only syrup and milk, and a frappe includes syrup, milk, and ice cream. But everywhere else, a milkshake is a milkshake and there is no frappe. This is as clear as mud!

At her ice cream establishment, Gagnon says that a frappe and a milkshake are one and the same.

“I am not sure about other shops, but people can order one whichever way they’d like,” Gagnon said.

Jimmies vs. Sprinkles

Have you ever traveled outside of New England and ordered “jimmies” on your ice cream, only to be met with a perplexed expression by the server?

Evidently, this is a commonplace source of confusion. The confection was purportedly named after employee and machine operator Jimmy Bartholomew of the Just Born Candy Company in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the 1930s. The term is only recognized in New England and Philadelphia.

Gagnon weighs in again here offering her expert opinion saying, “We call them both names interchangeably.”

Parlor vs. Stand

This one is fairly clear, maybe.

An ice cream parlor is an old-fashioned term referring mostly to a sit-down themed establishment, often served by waitstaff. Conversely, a stand can encompass any sort of takeout, walk up, or drive through ice cream business. With so many options, there is something to fit everyone’s taste.

Gagnon says that she is committed to kids and the community at her business, frequently holding fundraisers where a portion of the day’s proceeds benefit organizations such as local sports teams and scout groups.

The Maine Ice Cream Trail is an online directory featuring over 300 ice cream establishments located all over the state. The website provides an interactive map, trip planning tool, and listings of creameries, farms, and stands and establishments serving fresh Maine-made ice cream.

Like the Peanuts song Happiness says, “Oh, happiness is two kinds of ice cream…”

Why not get out there and get some of the good stuff – all while supporting local business.

Learn more about the Real Maine Ice Cream Trail at: https://www.realmaine.com/seasons/summer/real-maine-ice-cream-trail/<