The Maryland Department of Agriculture has officially opened Maryland’s Best Ice Cream Trail and Geocache Trail! The new ice cream trail – modeled after Maryland’s wine trails – is the first in the nation to feature dairy farms that produce farm fresh ice cream and sell it directly to consumers on the farm.
The seven creameries on the Maryland’s Best Ice Cream Trail are Rocky Point Creamery in Frederick County; Prigel Family Creamery in Baltimore County; Broom’s Bloom Dairy in Harford County, Kilby Cream in Cecil County; South Mountain Creamery in Frederick County; Misty Meadows Farm Creamery in Washington County; and Chesapeake Bay Farms in Worcester County.
Anyone who visits each of the seven creameries before September 7 will have a chance to be named Maryland’s Best 2012 Ice Cream Trailblazer. The prize? More ice cream! Trailblazers can pick up a passport at any of the seven participating creameries – or download one online– and have it “stamped” at each location. All completed passports returned to MDA before September 7 will be entered in a drawing for the grand prize, which includes a $50 gift certificate to a favorite creamery along with a copy of “The Maryland Harvest,” an hour-long DVD about Maryland chefs and their partnership with local farmers, and a signed copy of “Dishing Up Maryland,” a cookbook by Lucie Snodgrass.
In addition to the Trailblazer Passport contest, MDA is also offering a Maryland’s Best Geocaching Ice Cream Trail. Geocaching is a sport in which participants using handheld GPS devices and iPhones find hidden “caches.” After logging in at each of the caches, participants will submit their unique Geocaching Ice Cream Passport to MDA Marketing to win Maryland’s Best geotags developed in cooperation with the Maryland Geocaching Society.
Maryland’s Ice Cream Trail is a joint promotion supported by the Maryland Department of Agriculture and the Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association, the local affiliate of the National Dairy Council.