Utica Old Fashioned Ice Cream Festival

Now in its 39^th year, this little (now, kinda big) festival has been the long awaited summer shindig for Uticans and ice cream lovers since 1975.
Scattered along the grounds of the popular Velvet Ice Cream Co. are a few areas of attraction for the festival. You have your ce cream tent, a stage, dozens of vendor booths, and then, there’s the actual Velvet Ice Cream Mill itself (and everything that comes along with it
) and a car show/​cruise in with lots of old cars.
There actually was a lot going on, but unfortunately during the times we weren’t there, that included live music performances, a magic show, balloon & egg toss games and tractor pulls. What we DID see — in all its slightly disturbing glory– was the ice cream eating contest of both children and adults. I’m all for eating contests, I am. Sort of. Kinda. OK, not so much. This little contest (which was held multiple times over the course of the weekend, btw) was quite the display of gluttony — and it was a little disgusting. Just picture it now: dozens of people ravenously guzzling 2… 3… 4… half-​melted, 600+calorie pints of ice cream in two minutes. I also saw one of the contestants hurl up said pints. I’m sure you can now understand my distain.
Parking was $ 5 a car, which is reasonable, but there was only one entry/​exit area which caused us to sit in traffic for nearly 45 minutes just to enter the festival.
Overall I think this was a cute little escape from the hustle and bustle of Columbus, and dammit if it wasn’t the best reason ever to start hosting a festival! Take a tip from me though and be sure to go earlier in the day when all of the activities are happening.