SHAVERTOWN, Pa. — Candie the calf enjoyed a sweet treat as she got ready for big announcement at her home here at The Lands of Hillside Farms near Shavertown.
State Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding stopped by to kick-off "20-23 Scooped: An Ice Cream Trail."
"This is not a trail that doesn't lead anywhere," explained Secretary Redding. "This is a trail that takes you across Pennsylvania and it connects all of these important community assets are farms, that really great jobs in the industry, the families that are part of this, and they are the other partner, right? They are the reason that we gathered to celebrate."
The trail is a partnership between the State Department of Agriculture and PA Tourism.
It features 42 PA Preferred places in the state to get a scoop of Ice Cream. If you stop at six, you can get a free ice cream scooper. All you have to do is scan a QR code at one of the stops and sign up on the website, then each stop will have a special 4-digit code for you to use to check it off the list.
"Yeah, it's exciting. It's kind of like a little secret that we have. So it's fun to get to know who's a part of it and who knows about it and people would come far for it. So that's really cool," said Olivia Martin who has worked at Hillside's Ice Cream Parlor for two years.
In honor of the secretary's visit to the Lands at Hillside Farms to kick off the trail, she and other workers in the ice cream parlor came up with a special sundae for the occasion.
"The 'PA Trailblaze' is a chocolate chip sundae with peanut butter and marshmallow chocolate and green sprinkles with whipped cream and cherry on top," explained Martin.
But Executive Director Chet Mozloom hopes people will come and go from the trail with more than just a scoop of ice cream.
"People being able to observe the heritage and history of Pennsylvania and how deep-rooted farming is in it? Personally, I have this desire to save small farms and I see them disappearing," said Mozloom.
He hopes the education that comes with a stop at the ice cream window will lead to keeping PA's dairy industry running strong.