OK, I know. It’s not last week anymore, and we’re back to normal March in State College: sweatshirts, mud and sniffles. But that doesn’t mean you have to shun all things summer. When you’re in the mood to pretend it’s still perfect out, here’s your guide to State College ice cream.
Meyer Dairy
2390 S. Atherton St.
There’s a rumor that there are more calories in Meyer Dairy ice cream than allowed by law. (I don’t think there are laws against calories, but that’s why it’s a rumor.) As much as any proud Penn Stater will tout the Berkey Creamery’s Peachy Paterno, Meyer Dairy has the only ice cream in town good enough to compete with Creamery quality. And on a warm spring day, you can sit at picnic tables outside and look out over the cow pastures that produced the very ice cream in your cone.
Happy Valley Freez
234 E. College Ave.
Two words: soft serve. If the hard stuff doesn’t do it for you, seek out this tiny place with a huge menu. Happy Valley Freez offers over 20 soft-serve flavors, but that’s not all — order everything from sandwiches to smoothies to milkshakes. It’s actually located beneath Urban Outfitters, so look carefully or you’ll miss it.
Dairy Queen
310 W. Aaron Drive
Yes, it’s a chain. You probably have four of them in your hometown. But, trust me, Dairy Queen is so State College. Any night you go, you’ll see groups of teens huddled around tables in State High sweatshirts discussing football games and senior prom. It sends me right back to 2009, when I drove there with my brand-new license without telling my parents and got in trouble. But maybe you don’t care about that. Fine. Just go get your Blizzard fix, out-of-towner.
Berkey Creamery
119 Food Science Building
Obvious choice, right? Well, it’s obvious for a reason. There’s just no other option for the die-hard Nittany Lion fan. Where else can you get Peachy Paterno, WPSU Coffee Break and Scholar’s Chip? If you bleed blue and white, you might as well eat blue and white, too. Just promise me you’ll try someplace else sometime.
