Ice Cream Memories: A Sweet Salute to Summer
As we undergo the adaptation of our 1850s Dairy into an Ice Cream Shoppe, this summer we invited the public to The Brown Homestead to help us imagine the experience this offering would create for our visitors. During three Open Door Days events, we brought together different community vendors, family-friendly activities, live music, and, of course, ice cream. Embracing our collective nostalgia for this cold treat, we also invited visitors to share their childhood memories of ice cream. Read on for these sweet memories, and for a recap of The Brown Homestead’s most successful summer yet.
Summer 2024 was certainly one to remember! We welcomed well over 600 visitors to our site during Public Tour Days and Open Door Days as well as various Grow @ and Heritage Crafts workshops all summer long.
Set within a pastoral landscape amongst vineyards and a centuries old farmstead, there is something extra special about summertime at The Brown Homestead. The blue skies feel more expansive, the air feels fresher and always breezy, and the picnic tables ceaselessly invite visitors to sit down, relax, and savour the surroundings. As many of our visitors can attest, the very feeling of being at The Homestead calls to the nostalgia of summertime. Simpler days and a slower pace of life.
During Open Door Days, we strived to harness that nostalgia. We invited the community to spend an afternoon seeped in local history, discovery, and connection. Beyond exploring the John Brown House and other historic buildings on site, visitors spent time outdoors among the walnut groves and meadows. Parents listened to live music while children chased a scavenger hunt or coloured at the picnic tables. Visitors tried their hand at a 19th century printing press with the Mackenzie Print Group and spinning with the Niagara Handweaving and Spinners Guild, among other traditional crafts and local offerings from the St. Catharines Public Library, 101 Deweguns, Bruce Trail Conservancy, Simply Indigenous, and the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum.
And at the centre of the Open Door Days experience, was the ice cream.
(Left) Members of the Niagara Handweavers and Spinners Guide demonstrating their craft for visitors. (Centre) A family relaxes and colours while enjoying the summer weather. (Right) The Brown Homestead Staff Mackenzie helps young visitors feel the difference between sheep’s wool insulation and modern loose-fill insultation.
Imagining The Homestead Creamery
3D Concept Rendering of The Dairy as an Ice Cream Shoppe. Produced in partnership with Brock University's Department of Digital Humanities. Designed by students Paige Wolf and Naym Salam.
Open Door Days were, in part, a chance for us to showcase our adaptive reuse plans and ongoing restoration as we work towards transforming our 1850s Dairy into an Ice Cream Shoppe. Thanks to the wonderful folks at So Chill Hamilton, Marble Slab Creamery and Willard’s Ice Cream, visitors could enjoy ice cream and help us imagine all the wholesome fun an ice cream shoppe would bring to our site.
There’s nothing quite like indulging in this icy-cold sweet treat on a hot summer’s day. And this rings true across generations, time, and place. We all cherish an ice cream memory or two, whether in childhood, or with our children or grandchildren today. We hope that one day soon The Brown Homestead will be steadfast in the tradition of ice cream memory making - one scoop at a time.
It seems our visitors would agree. Many expressed excitement about our tasty vision for the Dairy, and all the memories waiting to be made when combining a hike at the Short Hills or a wine tasting at a nearby winery, with a visit to The Homestead Creamery for ice cream. In the spirit of new traditions, we asked our Open Door Days visitors to share their sweetest ice cream memories with us. Here’s what we gleaned from their responses:
Place matters.
Susan Velkers - Glassford
“Favourite flavour - maple walnut!
The highlight of summer growing up in the 50s was driving to the Avondale Dairy on Stewart Road in the evening and swinging on the swings. We also rode our bikes for miles to get a small cone (10 cents), double cone (15 cents) and a triple scoop cone for (20 cents)!”
Jan Chappell - Vineland, Ontario
“One of my *dad’s favourite expressions in the summer was ‘I Scream, You Scream, we all scream for Ice Cream’. We often went out for ice cream as a family to Rainbow Dairy in Niagara Falls. Yum! I also remember getting Mello Roll ice cream cones in Fonthill, but I didn’t like nearly as much.
*John Brown, 3rd great grandson of THE John Brown.”
The people you’re with matter.
Baby’s first ice cream cone! - Anonymous
“Bringing our toddler to Avondale Dairy Bar for the first time for some ‘i-ceam’! 😊”
Kat
“My grandmother had a chest freezer in the basement with the ice cream - my brother and I had to give each other boosts to reach in and get it… especially since usually we weren’t allowed 😊”
Flavour matters.
Kathie - St. Catharines, ON
“I remember - Going to the Avondale Dairy Bar for Tiger Stripe Ice Cream Cones. I loved swinging and watching the cows! Great memories.”
Mikayla - Dufferin County, ON
“In high school, I organized a trip to a local farm for the class. At the farm they sold dandelion ice cream. Homemade too! It was delicious! 😊”
And, of course, the story matters.
Pickles & pregnancy - Anonymous
“Telling the hubby I was pregnant by going for ice cream and pulling out/eating a container of pickles… gross… 10/10 DO NOT RECOMMEND”
Kat 😺
“I tried to get my brother to run away from home, but forgot the way to my uncle’s house, so we went to an ice cream store and got ice cream while we called our parents ❤️”
It was a real treat to have folks share these sweet summertime memories with us. We are eager to be a part of all the ice cream memories that will be made at The Brown Homestead for summers to come. Let’s raise a cone to Summer 2024 at Niagara’s Homestead. Thanks to all who were a part of it!
Scroll through the gallery below for more ice cream memories as well as photos of the folks who shared with us.
Sara Nixon is a public historian and Community Engagement Manager at The Brown Homestead.