In Upstate New York a rite of passage from winter to spring is the blossoming of one of our region's great traditions: the seasonal ice cream stands. These little mostly lean-to shaped buildings, usually topped with an out-sized fiberglass ice cream cone and almost always bathed in an eerie yellow fluorescent bulb haze at night, are almost certainly harbingers that the seemingly unending Upstate winter is over.
Here a five places to go when the kids start the back seat chant, "I scream, you scream. We all scream for ice cream!"
Donnelly's, NYS Rt. 86, Saranac Lake, Franklin County.
Ol' Pete Donnelly has been scooping homemade ice cream cones in the Adirondacks for more than six decades. And he still uses the same machine he bought when he opened his stand in 1953. There is nothing like slurping one of Donnelly's chocolate and vanilla twist cones while gazing up at 2,000 foot Mt. Pisgah, or Whiteface Mountain right in front of you. You'll have to wait to get in, though. Donnelly's is so small it can only hold five people insides it at once!
Mac-a-Doodles, Main Street, Stamford, Delaware County.
Stamford exudes a patina of elegance recalling its days as "The Queen of the Catskills." Mac's serves up a cone so big that the only complaint here is that it usually ends up dripping down your arm before you can finish it!
Kurver Kreme, Central Avenue, Albany, Albany County.
A landmark summer spot in Albany since 1952. They usually roll down their iconic red and white awning in mid-March no matter what the weather is. And yes, long lines of folks gather each year on opening day for the first Kurver cone of the season, sometimes while dressed in ski jackets and gloves!
Big Dipper, Central Avenue, Dunkirk, Chautauqua County.
They open very early in the season, usually late February or early March, even while the frigid winds are blowing in off Lake Erie. A nice selection of flavors and curious ice cream treats await the hardy customers who do come out, like the Lake Erie Raft and the Fudge Bucket.
Snow Man Ice Cream Stand, Fifth Avenue, Troy, Rensselaer County.
A classic, kitschy roadside treasure in the land of "Uncle Sam." The giant snowman, draped in a red woolen scarf no matter how hot it gets, is the slightly creepy yet always welcoming sign that guests have arrived at one of the Capital District's legendary ice cream stands. For those on a bent for danger, order up their famous Chocolate Overload Ice Cream Pie. It is made out of homemade chocolate ice cream, then drenched in deep, rich hot fudge and lastly sprinkled with chocolate chips.