My Town

We All Scream For Ice Cream

There may not be a dedicated ice cream shop in Mt. Morris but there’s no shortage of ice cream opportunities in the summer.

Who doesn’t crave ice cream in the summer? It’s the perfect refreshing dessert, snack – or let’s face it – main course.

Top flavors and ice cream shops are hotly debated and depend upon who you ask. I have a weakness for hard-packed, hand-dipped ice cream where the server digs deep into a tub and the ice cream curls into a huge ball in the scoop. Yum.

There may not be a dedicated ice cream shop in Mt. Morris but there’s no shortage of ice cream opportunities in the summer. For just a donation you can experience an authentic pie-and-ice-cream-social good time from one of the local organizations that serve during the free Kable Band Concerts on Wednesday evenings through July, 7:30-8:30 on the Village Square campus. Local ice cream trucks feed the crowds at our free Mt. Morris Jamboree concerts on the campus every Friday night in the summer. Ice cream plus free concerts. Win-win.

Local Favorites

Jay’s Drive-in in Oregon offers Michigan-made hand-dipped Ashby’s ice cream in a 50’s diner setting. Yes, it’s really a drive-in. There’s also a Dairy Queen in Oregon, for DQ fans. And there are chains and local ice cream shops just 20 minutes away in Dixon, including Meusel’s Dairy Delite, family-owned since 1986 and served from a colorful old-fashioned stand.

For the best ice cream experience I suggest The Union Dairy, a Freeport tradition since 1914. Nearly 50 flavors of Wisconsin-made Cedar Crest ice cream in an old-fashioned ice cream parlor are well worth the drive. They have a great little grill menu so you can have the entire meal there, and end – or start – with ice cream. Be patient. The ice cream line can wind out the door on hot summer nights.

Here are more summer food and fun suggestions when you visit My Town, Mt. Morris.