The Old Fashioned Ice Cream Festival at Rockwood Park, Wilmington, returns June 28-29 with local frozen treats taking center stage. The event was formally announced at a press conference on Wednesday.
At least eight dairies will be serving fresh ice cream treats all weekend and will participate in a competition to determine which one can create the “Best Sundae on Sunday.” A panel of chefs and food experts, with help from festival attendees, will choose the winner.
“The Ice Cream Festival is a great tradition at Rockwood and it offers an opportunity for visitors to enjoy the beauty of this wonderful county park,” said New Castle County Executive Thomas P. Gordon. “We believe as many as 80,000 people could attend as the word gets out that this festival has been restored.”
County government and Barry’s Events are cosponsoring the festival.
Festival organizer Barry Schlecker anticipates attendance this year to top turnout in 2012, when temperatures hit triple digits, and 2013, when a heavy storm forced an early closure on Sunday.
From left at press conference announcing the event are, from left: Larry Nagengast, master of ceremonies; Gordon; and Schlecker.
The heat and storms of past years are not holding back the dairies, restaurants, musicians and retailers appearing at this year’s festival.
The current festival lineup includes eight dairies, 25 restaurant and snack vendors, a beer garden, musicians performing at adult and children’s stages, a special section devoted to children’s games and activities, more than 20 crafters and at least 30 local businesses, as well as 15 nonprofit organizations.
Participating dairies and ice cream vendors include: Caffe Gelato, HyPoint, the Ice Cream Shop, Kilby Cream, Sweet Lucy’s, Tocumbo, UDairy Creamery and Vanderwende Farm Creamery.
The Wilmington School of Rock has arranged performances on the adult stage by: Club Phred, No Stringz Attached, Kitty Mayo, Alex & Keegan, Colvin Atiba Fields, Out of the Beard Space, Checkered Heroes, Remnants and Harry Spencer on Saturday, and the Durkan Brothers, Imagine, the School of Rock, This is Weird, Weekend Warriors and Kind of Creatures on Sunday.
For a schedule of all performances and a full list of festival participants, go to rockwoodicecream.com
Festival hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, June 28, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, June 29. Admission is $5 for adults, $1 for children under 12. Free shuttle bus service will be provided between Rockwood and parking lots at Merchants Square, Mount Pleasant High School and the Rockwood Office Park.
Barry’s Events, founded by Wilmington entrepreneur Barry Schlecker, produces the annual WilmFilm Festival, held the last weekend in April; the Old Fashioned Ice Cream Festival at Rockwood, held the last weekend in June; the Brandywine Festival of the Arts, held the weekend after Labor Day; and A Taste of the Holidays, held in December.
