National Ice Cream Day is right around the corner, and the day celebrates ice cream’s rich and flavourful history, but you’re likely not here for the history lesson; you’re here to learn about some of Alberta’s best ice cream shops!
Alberta has almost 300 different ice cream shops, each offering a unique selection of flavours and deals for National Ice Cream Day on July 21.
We’ve selected seven incredible ice cream shops to help you celebrate the big day and satisfy your sweet tooth!
Village Ice Cream – Calgary
Ice cream tastes better when shared with friends and family, but what about dogs? Village Ice Cream isn’t just a people pleaser.
The ice cream shop chain is about spreading love to everyone, including pups. Earlier this year, the shop announced Dogs of Village ice cream pints for dogs.
Village Ice Cream is finally ready to launch Dogs of Village and will host a launch event on July 20 ahead of National Ice Cream Day.
The shop’s Carrots and Cream Dogs of Village pint features almost 50 hand-illustrated dogs, selected from over 2,500 photos submitted by Calgarians of their dogs.
The pint is more than just a tasty treat. Village Ice Cream will donate one dollar from every pint and scoop sold to the Canadian Animal Task Force.
The beloved shop may have added dogs to its clientele, but it hasn’t forgotten about humans!
Village Ice Cream features a carefully crafted selection of flavours, including classics like salted caramel, maple pecan, mint, vanilla, and chocolate.
The shop also offers less conventional flavours like North 49 honeyberry, toasted coconut, and Earl Grey, but the magic happens in its seasonal flavours.
Village Ice Cream’s seasonal flavours include mini donut, bubblegum, POG, and Boston cream pie.
POG, a combination of passionfruit, orange, guava, and Boston cream pie, is dairy-free for the lactose-intolerant crowd!
So why not enjoy a scoop or two alongside your pup this National Ice Cream Day?
Mackay’s Ice Cream – Cochrane
We can’t discuss ice cream without mentioning Mackay’s Ice Cream in Cochrane’s historic downtown.
Mackay’s has been serving ice cream ever since James and Christina MacKay took over ownership of the town’s General Store in 1946.
In addition to caring about people, community, operations, and its customers, Mackay’s is committed to the environment.
In 2016, the business recycled over 9,000 pounds of material, including nearly 7,000 plastic ice cream pails, the equivalent of about seven fully-grown dairy cows.
Since 2011, Mackay’s has donated $50,000 to the local community, including the Boys and Girls Club of Cochrane & Area, Camp Kindle, Stockmen’s Memorial Foundation, and more.
But Mackay’s didn’t earn almost 4,000 Google reviews and hundreds of dedicated customers off goodwill alone.
The business’s quality is next level. Mackay’s premium ice cream has 16 to 18 percent butterfat cream, making it so smooth and tasty!
Mackay’s also has a seemingly endless list of ice cream flavours, many weird and wacky, like avocado, maple bacon, queso, and…barn floor.
We won’t spoil what’s in Mackay’s barn floor ice cream, but we will say it’s worth tasting!
Past flavours served by Mackay’s include dill pickle, wasabi, and sticky toffee pudding.
The business also sells take-home only one-litre tubs of durian, purple yam, and young coconut ice cream.
Expect a line-up, but they are good at getting many people served in a short time!
COWS – Banff
If you are looking for a mainstream ice cream experience, it doesn’t get more mainstream than COWS.
COWS isn’t Alberta-born, but Albertans sure love it.
The business started making ice cream in 1983 with an old-fashioned family recipe originating from Cavendish, Prince Edward Island.
What started as a humble business quickly grew into a chain of 12 stores spanning from Canada’s East Coast to the West Coast, with locations in Banff, Whistler, Niagara, Quebec, and Halifax.
Many of Alberta’s best ice cream stores make their ice cream using our province’s top-tier milk, but not COWS.
The only milk COWS uses is sourced from Prince Edward Island. It is combined with fresh cream, eggs, and quality ingredients to create over 30 flavours of ice cream.
We’re talking about birthday cake, brownie explosion, bubblegum, cooking monster, gooey mooey, moonicorn, PEI apple crispy, and so many more flavours.
If you are indecisive, you will be spoiled for choice at COWS. Even if you don’t like ice cream, COWS sells other food products like chips, fudge, chocolate, and COW Pies, COWS version of moon pies.
After seeing immediate success following its opening, COWS started selling merchandise in 1985. Traditional merchandise can be an eyesore, but most of COWS’ branding is colourful, stylish, and simple.
COWS has more clothing options, from hats to sweaters, than ice cream flavours.
If clothing wasn’t enough, the store also sells towels, reusable bags, plushies, and other random knickknacks.
Old School Bus Ice Cream – Canmore
Let’s return old school with Old School Bus Ice Cream.
Depending on how you read it, the small local business’s name might have you second-guessing a visit.
The good news is that Old School Bus Ice Cream isn’t trying to sell you the old ice cream they found at the back of a school bus.
The business sells ice cream out of an old school bus, which might sound sketchy but is perfectly safe! Just ask the many families that flock to Old School Bus Ice Cream when it opens for the season!
Debbie Falconer operates the business. She was born in Idaho but fell in love with a Canadian boy. The next thing they knew, they were starting a family in Canmore.
When Debbie and her husband moved to Canmore, they realized the town didn’t have an ice cream shop.
That’s when they came up with the idea of buying an old school bus from a friend and starting to sell ice cream.
The rest is history. One of the perks of selling ice cream out of a bus is that you can change locations on the fly.
“Old School Bus Ice Cream was on Main Street for two summers, then moved to 10th Street while the Main Street lot changed owners. Then we moved back to Main Street for 12 more summers,” Falconer told Crag & Canyon.
Old School Bus Ice Cream sources its ice cream from Chapman’s and sells almost 30 different flavours of ice cream and milkshakes.
Two of the business’s most popular flavours are bubblegum and cookie dough. On top of ice cream, Old School Bus Ice Cream sells Hawaiian shaved ice and locally made Grizzly Paw soda.
Swirls Ice Cream – Lethbridge
Old School Ice Cream isn’t the only ice cream business with a set of wheels. Swirls Ice Cream is a Medicine Hat original and crowd favourite.
Swirls has three stationary storefronts at Elkwater Beach, Co-op Place, and its original ice cream shop at the corner of Division Avenue opened in 1984.
Swirls also has mobile trucks that can be found at every Medicine Hat Mavericks game or rented for personal or business events, family gatherings, celebrations, and more.
Smaller ice cream carts manned by Swirls employees can also be rented. Swirls is dedicated to providing great customer service and even better ice cream.
The family-run business is an icon of Medicine Hat and serves over 30 different flavours of hard and soft-serve ice cream.
Some of the shop’s most decadent flavours include lavender lemonade, banana cream pie, double stuffed cookie, and espresso flake.
If you’re looking for a sweet fix, Swirls has you covered with flavours like Nerds, unicorn toots, black cherry, peach, pina colada, and more.
Swirls is most famous for its Arctic Swirls, a combination of select ice cream flavours with your favourite toppings.
Swirls’ seasonal Arctic Swirls, which are only available now, include Lucky Charms, Lucky Leprechaun, pumpkin pie, smores, and cotton candy. Swirls also sells dip cones, parfaits, slushes, and novelties.
Made By Marcus – Calgary/Edmonton
For the Calgary and Edmonton folks, Made by Marcus is made for you!
Made by Marcus was founded by one man named, you guessed it, Marcus.
Marcus combined his love for food and science to pursue a degree in Science with a combined major in Food and Nutrition and Food Science.
He studied in British Columbia for eight years before moving to New York to work as a cook at a One-Star Michelin restaurant.
Marcus’ life changed when he decided to move to Calgary.
Here, Marcus started his own business focusing on homemade ice cream.
But Marcus didn’t want to be just another ice cream spot in Calgary, so he used his science background to take Made by Marcus to the next level.
Every mad scientist needs their laboratory, and Marcus’ location of choice was a small basement across the street from the business’s now flagship storefront.
Marcus began experimenting with unusual flavour combinations, using ingredients sourced locally from farmers, roasters, distillers, and artisans.
Some of his strangest combos included peach-yogurt-jalapeno and passionfruit-basil.
Whatever he was doing worked because now Made by Marcus is a fan favourite, with several locations in Calgary and Edmonton.
Some of his latest concoctions that are available now are mac and cheese, mint grasshopper pie, toasted hat and saskatoon berry, and Strathcona caesar sorbet ice cream.
If you can’t beat the heat, Made by Marcus offers delivery for its ice cream pints, cakes, and bars, all of which can also be ordered online for pickup.
Lovely Ice Cream – Canmore
Curiosity killed the cat, but in Connor’s case, it helped him create Lovely Ice Cream, one of the most successful ice cream shops in Canmore.
Connor’s ice cream journey started during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He wanted to bring joy back to the world, and what makes people happier than ice cream?
He learned everything he could about making ice cream from books, the internet, and experience.
Connor’s ice cream-making demonstration was posted on social media and quickly gained traction in the community. Many Canmore residents asked how they could get their hands on some of his ice cream.
After careful consideration, Connor decided to take the plunge and open Lovely Ice Cream in spring 2021. Now, Connor is living his dream of serving all sorts of ice cream to locals and visitors alike.
Some of Lovely Ice Cream’s regular flavours include mint, triple chocolate, vanilla caramel, coffee, vanilla, and dairy-free orange ice cream.
If you are feeling adventurous, Lovely Ice Cream’s more creative flavours include spicy margarita, strawberry balsamic, and custard blueberry.
Lovely Ice Cream’s flavours can be found at the business’s main storefront, the Lovely ice cream cart on Main Street, and the Lovely ice cream event trailer that travels around the Bow Valley serving ice cream.
Some of Lovely Ice Cream’s ice cream is even sold at retailers throughout Canmore, including the Canmore Tea Company, Le Fournil Bakery, and Take a Hike Market.
If you plan on celebrating National Ice Cream Day, these seven shops are worth checking out. If you’re lucky, they might even have special deals on for the big day, including free ice cream samples!
