This Saturday, July 10, the Midway United Methodist Church is inviting you to join them in Gwaltney Park for an afternoon well spent at their annually hosted ice cream social!
Traditionally, the volunteers of the church gather on the Thursday prior to the weekend celebration in order to prepare the ice cream. Made in five gallon batches, there are always six flavors.
Those volunteering begin the process by cooking the ice cream custard, a combination of eggs, sugar, cornstarch, and salt, and bringing it to a low boil.
Then, the ice cream mixture is sectioned of into large pans to cool before vanilla and condensed milk are added.
Shortly after this, the pans are placed in the cooler overnight to be moved to the freezer the following morning.
The churning stage begins with the addition of fresh fruits and other flavor elements.
“It’s a lot of hard work, but enjoyable too,” says Betty Douglas, a participant and major orchestrator of the event who, in her own words has “been at it for quite a few years.”
Her involvement began with a close friend, Marliena Adams, who brought Betty into the fold around 1985. Since then she’s worked to help Midway United Methodist Church host this ice cream social every year.
Alongside the expected flavors of homemade ice cream; chocolate, vanilla and banana, this year’s guests will be able to enjoy to orange-pinapple, butter pecan and strawberry.
In addition to the ice cream, burgers, hot dogs and barbecue will be served with their famous homemade potato salad, baked beans and Granny Tooley’s homemade freezer slaw.