Summer Kicks Off May 1 With Velvet Ice Cream's Ye Olde Mill Opening Day

When Velvet Ice Cream's Ye Olde Mill opens on May 1 at 11 a.m., visitors know summer is around the corner.

UTICA, OH (I-Newswire) March 22, 2012 - Travelers will know summer is just around the corner with the May 1 opening of perennial visitor favorite, Velvet Ice Cream's Ye Olde Mill. The Mill kicks off its 2012 season to individual travelers, groups and school field trips at 11 a.m. May 1 with the signature time-honored fun that draws more than 150,000 people to the Velvet Ice Cream headquarters every year. In addition to enjoying a scoop of that famous Velvet Ice Cream at 1970s-era pricing, guests can enjoy the following:
• Free Velvet Ice Cream tours
• Watching ice cream being made in the viewing gallery
• Free play on the Ye Olde Mill playground
• Three shelter houses for picnics and family gatherings
• A Historic 1817 grist mill with water wheel
• A real 19th century-style ice cream parlor
• Wheel Room Restaurant
• Interactive Ice Cream and Milling Museums
• Feeding the ducks on two catch-and-release fish ponds
• Gift shop
• Nature Trail
• Complimentary Wi-Fi

With the nearby bike-friendly nature trail, quiet country roads and gorgeous scenery, biking enthusiasts love visiting Ye Olde Mill. The 2012 season is an ideal time to visit the Mill, as Velvet Ice Cream will be giving away a custom bicycle. Visitors can begin signing up to win the bike May 1. Velvet Ice Cream will draw a winner on August 11.

Velvet Ice Cream is located in Utica, Ohio, situated on the perfect combination of wooded countryside and rolling, pastoral farmland. A family-owned and operated business for nearly 100 years, Joseph Dager founded Velvet Ice Cream 1914 and four generations of Dagers have since run the company. Velvet produces more than five million gallons of ice cream every year from its headquarters on the 25-acre grounds of Ye Olde Mill. Ye Olde Mill also houses an ice cream and milling museum, a restaurant, playground, picnic area and catch-and-release fish pond. Named by Frommer's as one of America’s 10 Best Ice Cream Factory Tours, Velvet's Ye Olde Mill welcomes 150,000 visitors each year for tours, tastings and events. The annual Ice Cream Festival (May 26-28, 2012), group tour experiences and school learning field trips are among the many draws to Ye Olde Mill, which is open to the public May 1-Sept. 1.

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