SOUTH BRISTOL, Maine — Hundreds of Mainers and tourists gathered for an oasis in the shade Sunday in South Bristol to enjoy a sweet treat on a warm day.
The Thompson Ice House Harvesting Museum hosted its annual ice cream social. Except this ice cream is no ordinary dessert. The ice used to chill the cream is 6 months old.
NEWS CENTER Maine previously reported about students harvesting the ice in February, learning the 200-year-old method of harvesting the ice in the time before refrigeration.
RELATED: Maine students learn to harvest ice
Steven McDowell is a co-founder of the tradition. He said this way of ice harvesting is important for future generations to learn about.
"We live in a world where we have freezers and you can get ice, and kids don't fully understand how that came about. ... It really grounds people, whether it's through events like this or the ice harvest," McDowell said.
Ice cream was churned by workers, who said it takes about an hour to make the finished product.
"With the mixture of salt and ice, it pulls the heat out of the ice cream mix and makes some homemade, hand-cranked ice cream. ... It's a slow process, but the end result is worth it when you taste it."
McDowell said children can learn different things from the winter harvest and summer celebration.
"When they come in the winter they get to experience how cold it is, pull the saws. When they come back in the summer and they see the frogs and the fish, they get a more sense of what it's like," McDowell said.
The Thompson Ice House has been functioning as a museum for 30 years and uses the same equipment on display to harvest ice during the winter months.
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