Summer chill
Brain Freeze Ice Cream Festival features 21 f lavors
Have your fill of 21 flavors of your favorite frozen treat at the Brain Freeze Ice Cream Festival.
The charity event on Saturday, June 9, and Sunday, June 10, will feature 21 flavors of Blue Bell premium ice cream. There also will be plenty of toppings to choose from. This is the first year for the event. It is produced by Blue River Productions, best-known for organizing the popular Albuquerque Wine Festival and the Southwest Chocolate & Coffee Fest.
“The vision has been to create something where people can cool off during the summer,” said co-producer Dean Strober of Blue River Productions. “I love ice cream. I know many people who do, and I feel it was certainly a place where we could combine our desire to raise money for the Rio Grande Down Syndrome Network, create an event that is incredibly affordable, a lot of fun, bring people together in the middle of the summer and give them an opportunity to cool down.”
The network is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower individuals with Down syndrome and their families through advocacy, education and support, according to its website. The network seeks to create awareness, ensure inclusion and promote independence in individuals with Down syndrome, the website says. The festival also will help support some other local nonprofits and school teams who are sending members to help scoop ice cream.
Scoops of ice cream can be purchased with tokens, which are four for $10, 10 for $20, or 20 for $30. Single scoops in a cone or in a cup with a topping are one token. Additional toppings are one or two tokens.
In between scoops, there will be plenty of activities to keep children entertained, including bounce houses, face painting, climbing walls, a foam party and music. The activities are included in the $5 admission price. Food trucks will sell heartier fare, such as burgers, barbecue and tacos.
The event is dear to Strober and his wife and co-producer, Lena. The couple have a 4-year-old daughter with Down syndrome and created the event to raise awareness.
“We will have a lot of organizations there that provide services to individuals with disabilities and special needs,” Dean Strober said. “We really want to raise awareness of not just the services that are available but also raise awareness of the capabilities of individuals with disabilities, so we’ll have representatives and individuals who may have unique needs scooping ice cream. We’ve hired them … because it is important for us at the event to change perceptions of not just Down syndrome, but also living with a different ability. That’s one of the major points of the event.”