When you start thinking of how you’re going to spend your summer in Arkansas, what ideas come to mind? I would guess there’s probably road trips to some of the local lakes around Fayetteville, Rogers, Springdale, and Bentonville and swimming holes in the area, camping outdoors with family and exploring the natural Arkansas beauty of places like Devil’s Den in Winslow, AR, or even taking your new Ford Bronco from your new Ford dealership near you out to test out all the off road capabilities you’ve been wanting to try out. When you start getting hungry, you can look forward to firing up the grill and having a barbecue, or finding a local NWA restaurant with a patio to enjoy the balmy summer Ozark evenings outdoors.
One of the best foods you can expect to eat your fill of over the summer months is a great big helping of ice cream. Or, for those that prefer something else, there’s also the seasonal Snow Cone stands that start opening up around the NWA area. There’s a reason that July has been dubbed National Ice Cream Month, and so to prepare for this upcoming culinary celebration, we here at Lewis Ford in Fayetteville wanted to share some of the top-rated Ice Cream and Sno-Cone shops in the area. So crank up your New Ford Mustang and let’s take a drive through the Ozarks.
Bentonville, AR - Spark Café Soda Fountain
The Walton family, founders of Wal-Mart, have been a part of Northwest Arkansas for decades. Sam Walton (who, by the way, drove a Ford F150 truck) was reportedly a huge fan of ice cream, and his family has shared numerous stories about his affection for the sweet treat, especially his favorite flavor, Butter Pecan. So, when the Walmart Museum in Bentonville, AR was founded, it made perfect sense to include an old-fashioned soda fountain in the form of the Spark Café. They feature Yarnell’s brand ice cream, another family-created company founded in Arkansas by the Yarnell family in Searcy, Arkansas.
Springdale, AR (with a mobile location in Lowell, AR) - Pineapple Bliss NWA
Next, you can load up your family in your 2022 Ford Explorer and go on down to a recent addition to the Northwest Arkansas food scene. Pineapple Bliss serves up delicious, cold, frozen fruit-flavor soft serve. They were established to help fill in a need in the dessert offerings in the Springdale community, specifically catering to those with dietary needs that might otherwise have to skip out on the ice cream fun. Their fruit products are made in a nut-free facility, and are free from the top 8 allergens, so that anyone can enjoy their sweet summer treats regardless of their food sensitivities. So if you’re lactose, gluten, or soy intolerant, or just really want to enjoy their amazing offerings of flavors like a Pineapple & Cherry Limeade twist float in Pineapple Cream Soda, this is the place in NWA to start frequenting!
Fayetteville, AR - Shake’s Frozen Custard
Shake’s Frozen Custard has been an institution in the city of Fayetteville for years, and they stick to their commitment to bringing their customers the highest quality frozen custard in the area. All their custard is made on-site, and according to their website “Frozen custard is ice cream - but not all ice cream meets the standards of frozen custard.” This thick, creamy treat definitely lives up to those high standards, with delicious items on their menu like classic hot fudge sundaes, candy concretes blended up with their signature vanilla custard, or even seasonal flavors like wedding cake or mint Oreo concretes. Since they’re just down the road from our Fayetteville, AR, locations, you can bet our vehicle sales team has taken a break from showing customers the new Ford vehicles for sale to run down there multiple times.
Springdale, AR - Vargas Fruteria
Just down the road from our Springdale Ford location, this little ice cream place seems like it offers just about any frozen treat you can imagine in the Springdale, AR area! They’ve been voted the area’s “Best Frozen Treats” by the local Best of the Best for multiple years, and always garner rave reviews. They offer a whole range of delicious items, like smoothies and slushes, shakes and ice cream, and even rolled ice cream and a gigantic Waffle Split that would probably be big enough to serve your entire crew a delicious sweet treat to share.
Snow Cones - Shave the Planet
With four locations in NWA, in Fayetteville, Springdale, Lowell, and Rogers, Shave the Planet has been serving up snow cones to their local fans for years. Even our staff at Lewis Ford start getting excited when they hear that it’s the time of year for these snow cone stands to open up for the season. And can you blame them, with so many amazing flavor combinations to choose from, like the Polynesian Pineapple (with coconut, pineapple, and strawberry), the Meme (blue raspberry, mango, and wild strawberry), or even a fan favorite, Tiger’s Blood.
Are there any other places that should have been mentioned here? There’s a whole list of our staff at our Lewis Ford location that definitely have a sweet tooth, and would love to hear your local NWA recommendations! So when you’re giving us a call to schedule with our Fayetteville Ford Service Department, or maybe a test drive in the new 2022 Ford Mustang Mach-E, be sure to pass YOUR favorite local ice cream shop along to our Lewis members to make their day just a little sweeter and bring some extra business to your favorite local spots.