FOOD NEWS
The Ice Cream Capital Of The World Is A Lesser-Known Town In Iowa
By Jessica Fleming-Montoya
Iowa is known for its vast farmlands of wheat and corn, but it also boasts the town of Le Mars, known as the world's ice cream capital.
The reason why Le Mars is the ice cream capital of the world began when a local man named Fred H. Wells purchased a mobile milk business in 1913.
By 1925, Wells and several other family members had upgraded their milk-selling business to a mobile ice cream stand which was successful until 1928, when it was sold.
In 1935, Wells returned to the ice cream business and opened a new company under the name Blue Bunny. By the '90s, Blue Bunny became a household name.
Today, Blue Bunny has become the largest family-run ice cream producer in the U.S., producing around 150 million gallons of ice cream a year.
All this led to the general state assembly voting the area the Ice Cream Capital of the World in 1994, and it's stayed that way ever since.
If you ever stop by Le Mars, be sure to head to the Well's Visitor Center & Ice Cream Parlor to taste the famous ice cream varieties that started the town's legacy.