“Ronald Reagan was a huge supporter of ice cream.”
It was a quick history lesson from Matt Faulkner, who co-owns Hippy Dippy Creamery, on Monday, in the run-up to why his family’s Fort Gratiot and Marysville shops will be open a full 24 hours to celebrate National Ice Cream Day this weekend.
Reagan proclaimed National Ice Cream Day to be always the third Sunday of July, as well as the month National Ice Cream Month in the summer of 1984.
“So, we can thank him for that,” Faulkner said Monday of the former U.S. president.
Now, 40 years later, he said, “As for the ice cream day, we were trying to think of something fun and unique that would be different and also kind of like, ‘Oh, my gosh, are you for real?’ I mean, if you see the comments people have made, like, ‘Really, 24 hours? Are you for serious?’”
Both the Hippy Dippy at 312 Huron Blvd. in Marysville and 3900 Pine Grove Ave., suite 10, in Fort Gratiot will be open from midnight until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday.
Faulkner will be at the Fort Gratiot store, which opened up earlier this year, while his wife, Jamie, will be at the shop in Marysville.
The front half of the 24-hour period will serve their ice cream for breakfast menu, while the latter half will bring back other specials — items like their lions cake cups, or Leap Year and eclipse cone specials.
Breakfast-inspired items would include French toast sundaes, cereal shakes, hot chocolate-donut combinations, and poffertjes or mini-Dutch pancake sundaes.
“We already have huge supporters of our ice cream for breakfast, which we do on National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, which is always the first Saturday of February,” Faulkner said. “… It’s just a holiday where ice cream shops open, where we open up early, and do breakfast-inspired treats. And people love it so much. We have a line out the door all day long until noon when we close for that day. Every week, we always get asked, ‘When are you going to do it again? When are you going to do it again?’ Well, it’s like the shamrock shake. It only comes out a certain time of the year.”
In addition to special menus, the Faulkners are bringing back a kids' craft show, where youth artists can sell their work, and foam bubble pit setups for kids at both locations.
“The funny part is when we came up with the ideas for these, at the time, we never knew we were opening up a second store, and we did. We thought long and hard for the last two months,” Matt Faulkner said. “We’re excited to be bringing this event to the local residents in Fort Gratiot, at our new location, to have the cool stuff we’re doing, to have it here, as well.”
For more information, visit Hippy Dippy’s National Ice Cream Day event page on Facebook or https://hippydippycreamery.com.
Contact reporter Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com.
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