NOTHING SAYS “SUMMER” LIKE ICE CREAM! 

While, much to my chagrin, we don’t have neighborhood ice cream trucks in my area of Minneapolis, I did get to attend an ice cream social with my friends Carla and Donna a couple weeks ago.  The evening was perfect for it.  The weather was warm with a cool breeze, and the attendance was great. 

These ladies were scooping ice cream late into the night.

The cookies went very FAST!!!

My friend Carla, one of the organizers, checking on last minute details.

Local businesses provided free ice cream, cookies, and beverages, while an amazing jazz trio provided music throughout the evening.  The event was very family friendly with two inflatable bounce houses, and a fire truck from the local fire department that children could climb on and explore.

This jazz trio, made up of neighborhood residents, was amazing!

The two inflatable bounce houses were very popular with the little ones.

My favorite part though was the petting zoo, which housed exotic baby animals – not your average petting zoo.  Young and old had the opportunity to pet exotic breeds of cattle such as the African Watusi, White Park, and Miniature Zebu, along with a Llama, Nilgai Antelope, a parrot, and my personal favorite, fainting goats.  Yes, you can take the boy out of the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the boy.

The petting zoo include cattle from Africa . . .

. . . a llama . . .

. . . African antelope . . .

. . . And my favorite, fainting goats.

I volunteered with Donna to oversee the trash/recycle containers, and was most impressed by this.  The organizers had a “Green Team” who purchased special bowls, plastic cups, and plastic silverware that were all compostable!  (This was my first encounter with compostable plastic beyond trash bags.)  In fact, this was so well organized that between the compostables and recyclables, we were left with very little trash.  I’m always impressed when groups and organizations make “green” decisions, especially to this extent.

My friend Donna overseeing the recycling.

The firetruck was big hit!

The music played on, and the ice cream scooped well into the night, making this an incredibly fun and most enjoyable evening.