Column: An insider look at Aggie Ice Cream
Editor’s Note: This column was written by a Statesman writer who also works at Aggie Ice Cream, giving us a deeper look into the Creamery.
If you’ve heard that Aggie Ice Cream was recently named the best ice cream in the state, it may interest you to hear about my first summer at Aggie Ice Cream where I was stressed out the whole time. I worried that someone would misadjust the freezer temperature and then the ice cream would get way too cold and I would tear a tendon trying to scoop maple nut. I was terrified that I would put peanut butter in the wrong milkshake and someone’s throat would swell closed as a direct consequence.
That was until I realized I had stumbled into something wonderful–one of the best jobs I’ve ever had as a college student. Aggie Ice Cream has not seen my fears become a reality (yet), my tendons are as of yet, intact, no one has suffocated and working at Aggie Ice Cream has been a bigger and more wonderful part of my college experience than I ever expected it to be when I was hired on.
My boss, Dave, said this–our fifteen minutes of fame–happens periodically. If the college or the creamery itself has a big event or milestone, we’ll occasionally be featured in the news. Dave will be interviewed and my coworkers and I will smile as we scoop aesthetically arranged cones of ice cream for photographers (the picture featured in this article is similarly staged. Thanks, Bethany. Shout out for scooping that perfectly balanced lemon custard double scoop in a waffle cone).
When I asked for his comments, Dave told me what factors he thinks make our ice cream exceptional. Our cows at the George B. Caine Dairy give us high quality milk; our creamery staff has used a traditional process since 1921; and my personal favorite (we journalism kids love catchy, alliterative quotes), the freshness of our ice cream is “short time from cow to cone.” He’s certainly right; these are the factors that make our ice cream exceptional.
The things that have made my experience working at Aggie Ice Cream exceptional, however, are different: it’s the incredible kindness and sense of community I’ve seen here. I have seen toddlers visit with their grandparents and Utah State graduates who have been getting Aggie Ice Cream since it cost a nickel and we only made vanilla. I’ve had shifts picked up at literally five minute’s notice by coworkers who have become my dear friends. I have played many a game of “Hide the Saltine” on our slowest winter days. I’ve learned how something as simple as an ice cream shop can become a part of the identity of the community that surrounds and supports it.
Today at work, all of our tips are being donated to our friend Kira, who was recently badly injured in a car accident. Kira is one of our coworkers, but most of all an exceptionally kind girl and a part of this wonderful community. Watching our tip jar fill to the brim so quickly reminds me of how lucky I am to be a part of all this. I work in an ice cream shop. It’s a food industry job, but it makes me smile every day.
If it is our well cared for cows that makes our ice cream exceptional, it is our well cared for and caring community that makes Aggie Ice Cream exceptional. I think I can speak for all of us in the blue aprons when I say thanks for all the love.
You can donate to Kira’s fund here.
-katherinetaylor@aggiemail.usu.eud