Siouxland Families Explore: The Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor
If you love ice cream, you need to add the Well Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor and Welcome Center to your bucket list. It was just renovated and reopened in June 2019, and I checked it out with my family to see the updates:
Where is the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor?
The Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor is at 115 Central Avenue NW in LeMars, Iowa, the ice cream capitol of the world, less than 45 minutes north of Sioux City on highway 75.
What is the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor and Visitors Center?
Don't you love these grand stairs when you walk in??
The Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor and Visitors Center is an ice cream shop full of fresh Wells Blue Bunny ice cream and other frozen and baked treats from Wells, near their corporate headquarters and main factories, with interactive areas throughout the building highlighting the history of ice cream and the Wells corporation, and the ice cream production process, a room for hosting events and meetings, a new rooftop eating space, and a theater where guests can watch a video about the history of Wells!
Cute room for holding meetings and events
Brand new rooftop eating space (on a rainy day)
What's on the menu at the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor?
A few of the 40 flavors of Blue Bunny ice cream available
Sherbets and Sorbets
The Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor serves 40 flavors of Wells Blue Bunny ice cream, plus sorbet, sherbet, sundaes, shakes, floats, ice cream sandwiches, and more, including Bomb Pops, which Wells makes, and treats from the new Chilly Cow line from Wells, which I love because they use ultra filtered milk, making them either lactose free or very low lactose! We ordered the sorbet in wildberry and mango, and Blue Bunny ice cream in huckleberry (a parlor exclusive) and strawberry cheesecake, plus sampled a few other flavors, including the other parlor exclusive flavor, mocha almond fudge, and everything we tried was delicious!
Our treats were delicious!
Wildberry Sorbet in a waffle cone
We also got some of the sugar cookies shaped like bunnies, because I love them!
Eating bunny cookies at sherbet colored mini picnic tables!
What's in the Gift Shop at the Well Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor and Visitors Center?
So many things you could drink milkshakes in...
The plush blue bunnies are the cutest!!
The Blue Bunny gift shop features a variety of colorful souvenirs including plush blue bunnies, shirts, mugs and more with Wells, Blue Bunny, and Bomb Pop branding, and a wide variety of novelty items, plus ice cream bowls and other handmade pottery from Midwest artist Beth Mueller. One of the most unique options was spoons for "baby's first ice cream." How cute would it be to bring your baby to the Wells Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor and Visitors Center for their first ever taste of ice cream?
Baby's First Ice Cream Spoons with engraved handles
Beth Mueller pottery
What else is in the Wells Visitor Center besides the Ice Cream Parlor and Gift Shop?
Besides the ice cream parlor and gift shop, the Well Visitor Center also features a ton of educational displays and interactive fun. On the main floor, my kids had fun playing with an old-fashioned soda fountain with a magic mirror that turned into a video of a vintage soda jerk!
Don't worry--the soda jerk was pretty nice ;)
On the second floor we found the theater, where a movie about the history of the Wells corporation plays. I loved the cute ice cream lights (they were hard to photograph, but each cone was a different color!)
I love these colorful ice cream lights!
I also liked the wall of ice cream history, starting with Alexander the Great:
Who else now wants Wells to make honey ice cream named after Alexander the Great??
My kids' favorite was this zone on the second floor with tons of fun for kids:
This fridge is a giant touchscreen that gives info on how specific treats are made!
She was so happy about the little cow!
For more information:
The Wells Blue Bunny Visitors Center and Ice Cream Parlor is open from Monday through Saturday from 9am to 10pm and on Sundays from noon to 10pm, as of June 2019. Check their website for the most updated hours.
To find out more about the Wells Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor and Visitors Center, visit their website, or connect with them on Facebook or Instagram.
Looking for more great ice cream in the Midwest? Check out this great post on the Flint & Co. Blog about the Best Ice Cream Shops in the Midwest, which I got to contribute to!
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