Someone once told me that in northern Ohio ice cream is religion.
That might sound utterly silly to city mice, but if there is one thing I know it’s that in the rural parts, ice cream always follows life’s big benchmarks.
Think about it. Where do you take Little Leaguers after winning the game? Ice cream.
Where do jayvee offensive linemen bring their first dates? Ice cream.
Where do you go after high-school band concerts? What do you eat at the county fair? What do you serve with your birthday cake?
It doesn’t matter what the question is, the correct answer is always ice cream.
Geauga County, Ohio, happens to be a leader on the American ice cream front. Recently the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation held a statewide ice cream battle to locate the best ice cream in the Buckeye State. Geauga County ranked in the top five.
The King Kone ice cream stand became the pride of the county by earning fourth place in the state. The owners, Gail and Mitch Hewitt,
opened their salt-of-the-earth business eight years ago. Their slogan was simple:
“May all your memories be sweet.”
Geauga County is your classic pie slice of Americana, with roughly 400 square miles of hayfields, small townships, pickups, and shiploads of annual rain. Geauga County receives more rainfall than any county in northern Ohio; nearly four feet per year.
Population-wise, Geauga is tame; about 94,000 folks. Twenty percent of the county is Amish. The other 80 percent is currently stuck in standstill traffic behind a horse-drawn carriage.
Also, Geauga County was home to one of the great ice cream connoisseurs of our time.
His name was Dan McClelland. Dan passed away last Wednesday from a brain tumor, but you would have liked Dan. Everyone did.
He was 67, nice looking, with an easy smile, and a deep affection for his grandchildren, dogs, and the national pastime of sweetened frozen…