July is National Ice Cream Month

    UTICA, OH, June 08, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Summer's middle month calls for celebrating one of America's favorite foods: Ice cream. July is National Ice Cream Month, marked throughout July at Velvet Ice Cream's Ye Olde Mill by a host of ice cream specials and events. The first weekend kicks off Saturday, July 6 on National Ice Cream Cone Day with The Olde Mill Restaurant and Ice Cream Parlor offering $.99 single-dip sugar cones; a nod to Velvet Ice Cream's 99th birthday. Then, on July 7 the Olde Mill Clowns, a live barbershop quartet and a magician welcome visitors.

Different live musical artists perform every Sunday throughout July at Ye Olde Mill. Other Ice Cream Month events include 4Paws Dog Show (July 13 at 1 p.m.) and a National Ice Cream Sundae Day celebration (July 15), where anyone who buys a double-dip Olde Mill sundae receives a FREE single-dip sundae. Guests can also sample the freshest possible Velvet Ice Cream, tasting it right as it comes off the line, Monday-Friday 12-3 p.m., throughout July.

Americans first began celebrating National Ice Cream Month in July, 1984. According to the International Dairy Food Association, 90% of U.S. population enjoys ice cream each year, with the average American eating 48 pints of ice cream per person, per year (more than any other country). The U.S. ice cream industry generates total revenues of $10 billion annually. Take-home ice cream sales represent the largest sector of the market, with revenues of $6.8 billion or 67.7 percent of the market's total value. Some 9 percent of all milk produced by U.S. dairy farmers is used to make ice cream, contributing significantly to the economic well-being of the nation's dairy industry.

Velvet Ice Cream is located in Utica, Ohio, situated on the perfect combination of wooded countryside and rolling, pastoral farmland. A family-owned and operated business for nearly 100 years, Joseph Dager founded Velvet Ice Cream in 1914 and four generations of Dagers have since run the company. Velvet produces more than 5 million gallons of ice cream every year from its headquarters on the 25-acre grounds of Ye Olde Mill. Ye Olde Mill also houses an ice cream and milling museum, a restaurant, playground, picnic area and catch-and-release fish pond. Named by Frommer's as one of America's 10 Best Ice Cream Factory Tours, Velvet's Ye Olde Mill welcomes 150,000 visitors each year for tours, tastings and events. The annual Ice Cream Festival (May 25-27, 2013), group tour experiences and school learning field trips are among the many draws to Ye Olde Mill, which is open to the public May 1-Oct. 31.

Website: http://velveticecream.com/

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