Home to the Wells Enterprises, Le Mars is known as the Ice Cream Capital of the World.
Home to the Wells Enterprises, Le Mars is known as the Ice Cream Capital of the World.
Transcript
[KOHLSDORF] There's a sweet stop along Highway 60 in downtown Le Mars, a city where more ice cream is made than anywhere else on the planet. And in the ice cream capital of the world, the best way to begin your visit is to grab a spoon.
[BETH MEYER] We are the Wells Visitor Center and Ice Cream Parlor. You walk in the door and your senses are instantly heightened. It's fun, it's vibrant, and there's a lot of ice cream. We have 28 different flavors in our three gallon tubs. We have eight feature flavors. So there's a lot to choose from.
[KOHLSDORF] From shakes and floats to cones and sundaes, there's no shortage of ways to enjoy a scoop of this ice cream. The parlor serves several exclusive flavors like huckleberry and mocha almond fudge. Samples are encouraged.
[BETH MEYER] So the visitor center is really the culmination of our history and where we're at today and how we're growing. The gift shop is the only place that you can get Blue Bunny merchandise, our bomb pop merchandise. One of my favorite things to do is to give tours to groups. They ask a lot of really good questions, but I enjoy sharing our story. It started out 1913 to where we are today. We have four production facilities, two offices outside of the Le Mars area. The fact that a family owned company has sustained and grown and thrived for that long is pretty amazing.
[KOHLSDORF] In 1913, Fred H. Wells invested $250 in a horse, wagon and dairy cans to start what would become Wells Enterprises. Wells sold the ice cream distribution and naming rights in 1929, but six years later, in 1935, he was ready to make frozen treats once again.
[BETH MEYER] We held a name that ice cream contest, and a little boy named John Vandenbrink saw a blue bunny in the window and said, hey dad, how about Blue Bunny? And his dad happened to work for the Sioux City Journal at the time, so his dad actually created our original Blue Bunny logo and the son named it.
[KOHLSDORF] Today, Wells produces roughly 200 million gallons of ice cream each year, and the visitor center and ice cream parlor remains the cherry on top of this longtime Iowa ice cream tradition.
[BETH MEYER] Here we get to celebrate everything that Wells gets to do as a company. All the products that we make, the history that we have. The minute you walk in the door, you kind of are transported back. You feel like a kid again. I think everyone, even if you are a kid, kind of feels like a younger version of yourself, and it just makes you feel really good.