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Despite the triple-digit weather,families from across El Paso attended the second Ice Cream Fest on Sunday at Cohen Stadium. Attendees were greeted with a free sample of a tri-blend tropical ice cream.
La Michoacana, Bahama Bucks, Hillside Coffee & Donut Co., Delicious Mexican Eatery, Tropicana Homes sundae building stations, Craze lemonade stands and Price’s brought their flavors and scoops to the stadium. Booth’s like Price’s featured exclusive flavors such as bubblegum unavailable at stores.
Tisha Eckhard, a volunteer at El Paso Live’s Border Flavors booth said that the attendees were in search for innovation. “People seem to be going for some of the more creative flavors,” Eckhard said. “The chocolate habanero gelato and the avocado gelato with chocolate chips have been our most requested today.”
Delicious was one of the more inventive exhibitors with their creative ice cream taco. With a waffle cone tortilla, ice cream as the filling and a special type of pico de gallo, owner Ray Borrego described the concoction as “exciting.”
“We used cherries for the tomatoes, we got the shredded coconut which would be the onion and then we got a sweet pickle we marinated ourselves to make it look like the jalapeno,” Borrego said.
The taco was popular enough for Borrego to include it as part of Delicious’ permanent menu. “I am actually gonna introduce it to the restaurant,” Borrego said. “I’m gonna go and talk to the Chihuahuas team see if they wanna host it and maybe even UTEP.”
The now second-year event kept its focus on the family-friendly atmosphere also featuring attractions for children such as bouncy castles, cornhole, an assortment of different parlor games brought by sponsor Dave and Busters and popular movie characters like Pirates of the Caribbean’s Jack Sparrow and the crew from the Ghostbusters for people to take pictures with. At the same time, the event also had 21+ stations with beer and its own 21+ ice cream shoppe.
Art enthusiasts were not disappointed, as the festival also featured graphic artists designing murals along the field’s walls. Graphic artists Dead Punk, Gubr, Lu-e Fresh and Grenade were all in attendance.
One of the biggest improvements over last year’s iteration was a better sense of planning. “What we’ve learned is that no one is upset at the lines this year. Last year we all ran out of food and parking was a mess,” Borrego said. “This year El Paso Live has done a good job organizing with the staff and volunteers and vendors. I think they can only get better.”
Organizer Brad Dubow also said that the volunteers and an estimate of attendance were helpful in planning this year’s festival. “We tried to use the field more, making a better use of the location versus last year it was more about getting it started,” Dubow said.
Dubow is already looking ahead to next year’s event. “Next year, we are going to try and get more interactive things, like for example right now there is nothing going on with banana splits, or ice cream eating contests or who can scoop the most contests and you want to have those things you can build from,” Dubow said.
