Summer is winding down, but there’s still time for a scoop, especially with temperatures expected to hover around 80 degrees for the next week or so.
This season, the farm-to-cone movement gained new ground at the beach. The Frozen Farmer opened Aug. 22 at 1601 Coastal Highway in Dewey Beach, bringing homemade ice cream, milkshakes, sorbet and fresh weekend doughnuts to the main drag. The shop is in the new building on the former Grotto Pizza site.
Katey Evans launched The Frozen Farmer at her family’s third-generation farm in Bridgeville, where she found a clever use for “misfit fruit,” perfectly good produce that isn’t pretty enough for supermarket shelves. The fruit goes into dairy-free sorbet and Frobert, the company’s signature blend of sorbet and ice cream.
The Frozen Farmer’s products are now sold through retailers nationwide, but the Dewey shop brings the brand to the Delaware beaches.
Also new is Hopkins Farm Creamery’s shop at 1201 Savannah Road in Lewes, near Teller Wines. The original creamery is at Green Acres Farm, 18186 Dairy Farm Road, west of Route 1. Look for the ice cream cones painted on the silo.
The Hopkins family has farmed at Green Acres since the early 1940s, but the creamery didn’t open until 2008. The late Walter “Burli” Hopkins Jr. famously didn’t read the directions when he first started using the ice cream machine. Instead of running it at the recommended 220 revolutions per minute, he set it at about 175 to 180. That whipped less air into the mix, producing denser, richer ice cream.
Marigold Creamery, a small-batch ice cream company, joined the scene in 2023. Its food truck is parked at 720 Kings Highway in Lewes beside The Station on Kings.
The two businesses make compatible neighbors. The Station is a café and market with a sophisticated menu, while Marigold specializes in inventive combinations such as Lavender Earl Grey with Mandarin Jam and Vegan Toasted Coconut with Cinnamon Caramel and Pecans.
Marigold is currently open Friday through Sunday, weather permitting. You’ll know it’s open when you spot the line.
Newcomers may be getting the headlines, but longtime favorites are still going strong.
Vanderwende Farm Creamery opened its Dewey Beach location at 23 Bellevue St. in 2015. The family farm is in Bridgeville, where William and Ellen Vanderwende started with six cows in 1954.
The Dewey shop is a summer operation, but Vanderwende also has locations in Greenwood, Georgetown, Fenwick Island and, as of August, Milford.
Then there’s King’s Homemade Ice Cream, which has been scooping since 1972, when Earl King bought a general store in Milton and began selling ice cream. His son, the late Tom King, and daughter-in-law, Chris, opened the Lewes location in 1981. In 2010, their daughter, Chelsea, and her husband, Rudy Spoor, took over. The Lewes shop at 201 Second St. keeps scooping well beyond Labor Day.
For something more adventurous, head to The Ice Cream Store at 6 Rehoboth Ave. Its name and early marketing plan grew out of owner Chip Hearn’s class project while he was studying business at the University of Virginia.
The more than 100 hand-dipped flavors include such cheeky concoctions as “Better Than Sex” and “Death by Peanut Butter.”
Many of the shop’s distinctive flavors are made in collaboration with Woodside Farm Creamery in Hockessin, where the Mitchell family has farmed since 1796. The farm’s Jersey cows produce milk prized for its high butterfat and milk solids.
For soft serve, there’s Kohr Bros. Frozen Custard, whose history dates to 1919, when brothers Archie, Elton and Lester Kohr opened a stand at Coney Island.
Their frozen dessert was melting too quickly in the salt air, so they added eggs to make it thicker and slower to melt. The result was frozen custard. Kohr Bros. says its version is lower in fat and sugar than traditional ice cream.
Today, there are three Rehoboth locations, along with shops in Bethany Beach and Fenwick Island.
Longtime Lewes locals know the season is truly winding down when the Dairy Queen Grill & Chill at 107 E. Savannah Road closes.
The Lewes shop opened in 1954 and typically reopens around March. Its 2026 closing date has not yet been announced.
Until then, there’s still time for one more cone, or two.
