It's National Ice Cream Day. We've made hundreds of flavors over the past nine years, some simple and some absolutely crazy. Since today is the greatest ice cream holiday there is, we thought it would be cool to ask everyone to suggest a retro Lake Effect flavor that you would like to see back on our menu. We'll dig back to the recipe book and bring some of them back for you. I can tell you that I've missed Date the Zoo and Limoncello, so I'm putting those ideas out there right now. Jason and Erik

Many of our friends have requested vegan and non-dairy option at our shops. Well, we listened and we've got you covered. Our journey into making vegan/non-dairy freezies and ice cream has just gotten a huge boost. We're excited to team-up with local nut milk producer Elmhurst 1925. A few ice creams are now in the works, but first we start with freezie pops. We've created four new amazing freezie pops using the four different nut milks (almond, walnut, hazelnut, and cashew) that are available from our friends at Elmhurst 1925. The new flavors are: Banana Walnut Coconut Cashew Lime Raspberry Almond Chocolate Hazelnut Our first batches of freezies will be available tomorrow. Get them while they last! Jason and Erik

There's an amazing few hours lined up on the doorstep of our Lockport shop tonight as the Albany Symphony Orchestra presents its last of 7 nights of concerts along the historic Erie Canal! Showtime is tonight at 8pm from the barge in Lock 35 just in front of our shop! They'll be presenting a piece composed especially for tonight's performance of Water Music. Frank Gourmet Dogs is in the lot along with Seas the Day and Mother Clucker for some light eats. And finally, the show will conclude with fireworks just behind our Canal Street shop around 9:30. We do hope you can join us for this cloudless great night of incredible music and fireworks! Albanysymphony.com #followthebarge

Looking for something cool to do today? Our friends Chris and Joanne Galley have put together Voodoo and Burnt Rubber 5. This event is an amazing art show and motorcycle show, with food, bands and a great fundraiser. This event goes from 1:00 to 8:00 PM at the Essex Street Art Space (28 Essex Street) on the West Side of Buffalo. Chris and Jo are great people who we've been friends with since grade school. In fact, when you visit our Lockport shop, you see some of Chris' work on our wall as he is the artist who created the Evel Knievel piece. Chris and Jo know how to throw an amazing party and the proceeds will support Buffalo City Mission and Buffalo Cares Animal Rescue. We're proud to have created two new ice creams that will be sold exclusively at the event. The first is a flavor we call "Burnt Rubber and Oil." We blend Oreo cookies with chocolate sauce in our vanilla ice cream. And the second, which we are particularly proud of, is what we call "PBR at VBR." This is a Pabst Blue Ribbon ice cream with white chocolate chips and toasted almonds. The event will be a blast, so stop by, have fun and grab an exclusive ice cream while you are there. For more information check out: www.voodooandburntrubber.com Jason and Erik

So this happened today at our Lockport shop... Voodoo the pig stopped by to test out our ice cream. By the look of the pictures, it seemed that he approved. How funny that his name is Voodoo, considering an event that we are donating ice cream to tomorrow. I'll give you the details of that tomorrow morning. Jason and Erik

Happy Fourth of July! We are open at both shops regular hours today. See you at the shop.

New flavor update! We are releasing a very limited edition new flavor today at both of our shops and we know it won't last very long. Check this out... Our new flavor is called Cookie Butter Crunch. We made a sugar cookie ice cream and packed it with almond windmill and shortbread cookie chunks. Like that wasn't enough, we also swirled in a rich cookie butter swirl throughout. Each shop will be getting just 25 gallons of our this awesome new flavor so get it while you can. See you at the shop! Jason and Erik

We're proud to team up with Yelp in their Yelp Adventure for July to support Mercy Flight. Starting today, both our shops will sell a special sundae for $5.00, tax included. One dollar from each sundae we sell, for the entire month of July, will go to directly to support Mercy Flight. My father-in-law's life was saved by the great people at Mercy Flight, and their life-saving work continues each and every day. We are honored to help them in any way we can. Our Mercy Flight inspired sundae is called: The Heli-Good Sundae Two scoops of our blueberry pie ice cream is topped with Murphy Orchards blueberry sauce and white clouds of real whipped cream. We top it with orange and blue rock candy in Mercy Flight colors. Stop out at our Hertel Ave. and our Lockport shops to get one of these awesome sundaes, as they are only available until the end of July. Jason and Erik

Thanks for stopping by guys!

Something remarkable happened tonight. An ice cream shop like ours on Hertel Ave., with mostly outdoor seating, has one enemy: rain. Tonight at the shop, around 8 o'clock, it started to pour. So, I had my usual reaction and started cleaning the shop figuring the lines would stop due to the weather. That didn't happen… Really, the only thing that changed was that people just started showing up with umbrellas. Ah, Buffalo, we're a hearty folk. Thanks for stopping out tonight in the rain, everyone. Jason and Erik

Being a dad is my favorite thing. Over the past few years, I have been fortunate to see many of my friends become fathers for the first time. It's an amazing thing to see a man become a father. It made these men, many of which I already held in the highest regard, even better. It gives you a purpose beyond yourself. Becoming a father shows you what's important in life. To all the new dads and all the experienced dads out there: Have a great Father's Day. Make sure that you take a second to thank the man who has made it their life's work to take care of you. Jason and Erik