NATIONAL SOFT ICE CREAM DAY

National Soft Ice Cream Day is observed annually on August 19th.  Soft service ice cream is the result of air being introduced to the dairy product during the freezing process.

In 1934 on Memorial Day weekend, Tom Carvel had a flat tire on his ice cream truck in Hartsdale, New York.  After pulling into a parking lot, he began selling the softened ice cream to vacationers driving by.  With amazement, seeing the love that people had for soft ice cream, he concluded that a fixed location selling the new-found dessert was potentially a good business idea.  In 1936, Carvel opened his first store on the original broken down truck site, selling his secret formula soft serve ice cream dispensed from his patented super low-temperature ice cream machines.