Pinellas Ice Cream Shops To Check Out On National Ice Cream Day

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — Thanks to former President Ronald Reagan who designated the first National Ice Cream Day in 1984, Americans celebrate this frozen treat every year on the third Sunday of July.

This year, National Ice Cream Day falls on Sunday, July 21. But don't let the celebration end Sunday. The entire month of July is National Ice Cream Month and, when it's this hot outside, every day is the perfect day for ice cream.

Luckily, Pinellas County is chock-full of ice cream parlors where residents can find their favorite flavors of this all-American treat.

Here's a list of some favorite places to check out:

• Larry's Ice Cream & Gelatos, 6595 Gulf Blvd., St Pete Beach

Family-owned and -operated since 1984 by Alison and Dore Herman, Larry's offers more than 80 flavors of homemade ice cream and Italian gelato that's 94 percent fat free. The old-fashioned ice cream parlor is known for its homemade waffle cones along with its hot fudge sundaes, milkshakes and homemade apple pie a la mode.

• Urban Creamery, 689 Central Ave., St. Petersburg

Urban Creamery makes its own ice cream on site, baked waffles and milkshakes to order and offers a variety of toppings.

• Old Farmer's Creamery, 2531 4th St. N., St. Petersburg

This locally owned scoop shop creates and manufactures its own ice cream. Owners Rick and Beth Johnson love to get creative with combinations like their blend just introduced this weekend: Banana Puddin' Ice Cream. Other limited-edition flavors have included Rickers - chocolate ice cream, caramel and nougat swirls with roasted peanuts - and blueberry cheesecake.

• Super Scoops, 11025 Gulf Blvd., Treasure Island

Super Scoops both soft-serve and traditional ice cream in a variety of flavors in freshly made waffle cones. Also, check out the homemade hot fudge sundaes with Ghirardelli chocolate, old-fashioned root beer floats and, when available, the fresh-baked apple crisp crumble served with a single scoop of ice cream, hot caramel, whipped cream and a cherry.

• Sweet Stack Shack, 1041 Central Ave, St. Petersburg

Sweet Stack Shack was the first custom-made ice cream shop in Florida. The shack offers fresh-based cookies and brownies with favorite flavors of ice cream in between.

• Mr. Ice Cream, 14995 Gulf Blvd, Madeira Beach

Mr. Ice Cream specializes in homemade ice cream rolls topped with fruits like kiwi, mango, bananas, melon, pineapple and berries with a marshmallow garnish. Or try it with crumbled cookies, pretzels or waffles.

• Weis Ice Cream Rolls, 1326 Tampa Road, Palm Harbor

Weis specializes in homemade ice cream rolls and ice cream shakes with a selection of toppings that's limited by only the imagination.

• Plant Love Ice Cream, 953 Central Ave., St. Petersburg

Plant Love Ice Cream is a community-driven artist collective that offers organic, craft, dairy-free ice cream in flavors like Bananas Foster and Salted Caramel with Praline Pecans.

• Lulu's Ice Cream and Candy Shop, 19823 Gulf Blvd., Suite C, Indian Shores

Lulu's, founded by Colombian native Luisa Santos, offers made-from-scratch ice cream using fresh, locally sourced ingredients, and then finished off each creation with a splash of liquid nitrogen to added that incomparable zing.

• Tropical Ice Cream & Coffee, 435 Gulf Blvd., Indian Rocks Beach

This is the place to come for tropical-flavored cones and milkshakes.

• Ice&Cream Creamery, 200 Main St., Dunedin, and 453 S. Gulfview Blvd., Clearwater

Ice&Cream Creamery creates ice cream in small batches using the best locally sourced ingredients in Florida to ensure that it's always fresh.

• Sweet Rolls, 1500 N. McMullen Booth Road, Clearwater

Owners Ron and Cory Sage offer handcrafted New Orleans-style rolled ice cream made with rich cream, Cream Anglaise and a mind-boggling list of toppings. Stop by on National Ice Cream Day for $5 rolls.

• iChills, 7901 4th St. N., St. Petersburg

iChills offers soft-serve Amish ice cream with freshly made waffle cones along with frozen yogurt, gourmet coffee, milk shakes, boba tea and organic chai tea.

• Strachan's Ice Cream & Desserts, 310 Main St., Dunedin; 105 Alternate U.S. 19, Palm Harbor; and 2332 State Road 580, Clearwater

Strachan's creates its gourmet ice cream and desserts made on the premises.

• Iceburg Rolled Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt, 449 Central Ave., Suite 102, St. Petersburg

The family-owned shop specializes in the handmade rolled ice cream treats that were first introduced as a street food in Thailand.

• Haze Ice Cream, 20001 Gulf Blvd., Indian Shores

Haze Ice Cream is a family-run mom-and-pop offers gluten-free and dairy-free options as well.

• Andy's Ice Cream, 28 Madonna Blvd., Tierra Verde

Andy's offers homemade ice cream in a variety of flavors with so many syrups and toppings, it's hard to choose. Try the Green Tea, Brownie Nut Fudge, Blueberry Cheesecake and Peppermint Stick flavors.

• Ice Cream Theory, 4058 Tampa Rd, Oldsmar

Theory becomes reality where ice cream combinations are only limited by the imagination. Ice Cream Theory offers such creations as Cloud Cones, an ice cream cone embedded in a cloud of cotton candy; Unicorn Sundaes and Cones, topped with fanciful unicorn horns; and creative blends like the Caramel Praline Pecan Ice Cream Pretzel Cone.

• Uncle Andy's Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor, 3400 Gulf Blvd., St Pete Beach

Step back in time at Uncle Andy's where you'll find specialties that have been hallmarks of the ice cream lovers for decades including sundaes, shakes and banana splits.

• Amish Creamery Co., 211 150th Ave., Madeira Beach

Established in 2006, Amish Creamery Company Inc. offers Big Olaf Ice Cream and other Amish-made specialty foods.

• Roll It Ice Cream, 13819 Walsingham Road, Suite E, Largo

Also capitalizing on the rolled ice cream trend, Roll It Ice Cream offers more than 20 flavors of fresh rolled ice cream, homemade scooped ice cream, organic smoothies, protein shakes and boba tea.

• Pinky's Ice Cream & Candy Shop, 1401 Gulf Blvd., Suite 1, Indian Rocks Beach

Pinky's specializes in the sweet treats of yesteryear including old-fashioned ice cream, Italian ice and candy that will awaken childhood memories.

• The Mint Fox Cookies & Ice Cream, 483 Mandalay Ave., Suite 114, Clearwater

The Mint Fox is home of the Serious Cookie Sundae, a half-pound warm cookie topped with two scoops of ice cream, hot fudge and whipped cream.

• Bay 1 Ice Cream and Sandwich Shop, 19713 Gulf Blvd., Indian Shores

Bay 1 offers a variety of ice cream flavors from the Working Cow creamery that uses only Florida dairies and Florida-sourced ingredients. The ice cream contains no artificial ingredients or high fructose corn syrup.