LAC LA BICHE - Summer means long evenings at the lake, baseball games, outdoor fun, and of course, that delectable, cool treat that exemplifies the season of warm weather... ice cream.
Although there’s a little less than a month before the summer season officially comes to an end, there’s still lots of time left to pick your favourite flavour, says Bessma Tarrabain, the owner of Bessma’s Ice Cream in Lac La Biche.
With so many people eager to beat the heat, ice cream vendors in the Lac La Biche region have been busy over the last few months serving up the tastes of the season.
Bubble Gum tops the list
Bubble gum and cookies and cream have been the top requests at Bessma’s mobile ice-cream van through a summer of events and daily servings.
“Bubble gum has been a huge hit this year,” Tarrabain told Lakeland This Week, saying it’s the flavour she re-stocks regularly. “Honestly, it’s the one I’ve been trying to buy the most.”
The ice-cream scooper has her own idea of why the bubble gum flavour sticks with people.
Bubble gum ice cream, Tarrabain says, reminds many people of their childhoods, and makes them reminiscence about those carefree summer days of yesteryear. Kids today, she added, also love it, making it a fan favourite all-around.
On the other end of the cone, there’s not much demand for mocha, Tarrabain says; her mocha-almond-fudge didn’t do as big summer sales. She says the coffee-flavour is an acquired taste
“I’ve only bought two tubs of that, and I’m still on one,” she stated.
At Lac La Biche Munchies, and ice cream and candy store, the hand-rolled ice cream favourite flavour of the summer has been Oreo Blast, closely followed by Strawberry cheesecake.
That’s not to say the Reese’s Mix, Brownie Explosion, and Tropical Mix don’t bring in summer smiles, says the store’s Mhitz Tunac, in fact, they come from near and far for a taste.
Tunac stated that people from other areas, including campers, stop into the local candy shop to indulge in the unique ice cream speciality, which is topped with Reese’s peanut butter cups, cookies, whipped cream and a variety of other goodies to make it ever sweeter.
“People from out of town come in to try the rolled ice cream,” she said.
11,000 Happy Campers
Some of the campers that Tunac sees have also helped to make ice cream the number one treat at the concessions at the Beaver Lake and Sir Winston Churchill provincial parks.
Pam Davidson, a spokesperson for the Alberta Forestry and Parks, said while the provincial government sells a variety of products in its stores at the two provincial parks in Lac La Biche County, ice cream is a crowd favourite-one that is in high demand.
“So far this year approximately 11,000 ice cream cones have been purchased at the two stores,” she tells Lakeland This Week, estimating that the ice cream sales are split 50-50 between campers and non-campers.
While Parks officials don’t have statistics on their top tasting flavours, they know that anyone who visits the region and stops for a scoop or two of any flavour will be happy campers.
