Philly has a rich (dare we say creamy) ice cream history. Which is why this Saturday, Bassetts, the nation’s oldest operating ice cream shop, returns to lead Reading Terminal Market’s annual Ice Cream Festival on Filbert Street.
The annual festival has been around for decades – although the original year remains in question. Alex Bassett Strange, the president of Bassetts Ice Cream and a member of the Bassett family’s sixth generation, is beyond excited for the festival, calling it “probably my favorite day of the year.”
“Ice cream is such a nostalgic product,” he said, not only because his family has been serving it since 1861. “It kind of takes me back. It’s creamy. It’s sweet. It can be salty and crunchy … There’s always room for ice cream.”
This year’s festival will bring together a smattering of local ice cream favorites from around town to the heart of the city. According to Bassett Strange, last year’s festival attracted over 30,000 people.
“My goal with this ice cream festival has always been to bring all of Philadelphia’s top ice cream talent together and bring in ice cream fans to experience the variety,” Bassett Strange said. “I’m hoping that somebody who comes to our festival gets a chance to try something and find a new favorite.”
What to expect
The Filbert Street Ice Cream Festival is sponsored by Bassetts, Milk Jawn and All About Events. It’s free to get in and guests then pay as you go.
Bassett Strange said that he enjoys working with newer Philly ice cream makers like Amy Wilson of Milk Jawn.
“Amy is a friend of mine, and she is an incredible artisan. I mean, the ice cream that she makes is spectacular, and she’s been a part of this festival for many years,” he said. “I’m blown away by what they’re doing. And I’m really proud to be in the same market as they are.”
The fest is not only attracting popular shops around town like The Franklin Fountain, Cloud Cups, Siddiq’s Water Ice, Weckerly’s and more, but each local vendor will be serving a special treat, such as ice cream tacos or rootbeer floats.
Tubby Robot, for example, will have ice cream hoagies (actual hoagie rolls with ice cream scoops for filling) on the menu.
“It’s just something about that savory, somewhat sweet hoagie roll with that ice cream,” Bassett Strange said. “Especially as that ice cream kind of melts into the hoagie roll, it’s like this milk bread kind of thing that it’s got going on, and it’s very good.”
In addition to ice cream treats and shops coming together, various Reading Terminal vendors will also be selling sweet items inside the market. That includes Sweet T’s bakery’s warmed up mini pies (think apple and sweet potato) that customers can enjoy a la mode with a scoop of ice cream.
Funtivities and more
Reading Terminal’s ice cream fest has a long history, and past years have involved friendly competition between vendors, like the 1996 ice cream games.
“My uncle, who ran the business at that time, said that that ice cream festival is where we had invited other shops to compete on different ice cream challenges, who can make the most scoop as many as maybe six-ounce portions in an allotted period of time,” Bassett Strange said. “Accuracy counts for something there, or who can make the prettiest cone with a panel of celebrity judges that would judge, you know, the symmetry and the scoops.”
This year, the only competition at the festival comes in the form of an ice-cream speed-eating contest. The rules of the ice-cream-eating faceoff:
- The contest will include four rounds at every half-hour mark of the festival.
- There will be 10 seats, and each round is first-come, first-served. (However, if there is enough demand, there may be multiple heats within each hour.)
- Contestants will have their hands tied behind their backs and will all be given the same quantity.
- Then it’s up to them to eat their scoops as fast as possible to win.
Families can also check out kids activities at the festival and dogs will be treated with pup cups.
That’s not all. Live demonstrations happening include:
- A flaming baked Alaska tutorial with Flying Monkey
- An interactive cookie cone decorating station with Famous 4th Street Cookie Co.
- A proper milkshake-making lesson with Bassetts
- A demonstration on how to properly taste a new flavor, led by Bryan Soronson, who travels the world tasting gelatos and ice creams.
- And many more you can check out here.
Soronson will be giving out samples and pointing out distinctions between textures, styles and more.
“People that attend that demo can then go out and experience all the ice cream treats that we have to offer that day and do so with maybe a new, newly educated perspective,” Bassett Strange said.
Philly screams for ice cream
The Ice Cream Festival on Filbert Street takes place this Saturday, July 12, from 1 to 5 p.m. It’ll be perfect to cool off during a weekend forecast to have temperatures likely in the high 80s.
While the festival is outside, it is under cover, so it takes place rain or shine.
For Bassett Strange and the thousands of attendees, the day is a way to continue a family and community tradition, and celebrate Philly ice cream history.
“[It’s] a chance to connect with the other shop owners and company owners and bring them into the Reading Terminal Market, kind of rub elbows with them and scoop ice cream,” he said.
“We are really proud to be around since 1861, the oldest ice cream company in the country, and many great ice cream companies have come out of Philadelphia, and we have many great ice cream companies today.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
