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MILLERS MILLS, N.Y. —
Getting together to eat some ice cream means a little more once per year in Millers Mills.
The practice of holding an ice harvest each winter and an ice cream social each summer started about a century or longer ago in this hamlet in the southern Herkimer County town of Columbia, said Carol Collins, a member of the Millers Mills Grange No. 581 that puts on the events.
“It’s a wonderful tradition that has kept our community together for generations,” Collins said.
The summer event has expanded over the years to become the Millers Mills Sundae Run and Ice Cream Social. The 5K run is known as the official cool-down event to the Boilermaker Road Race in Utica and took place for the 17th time this year, grange master Judy Guske said.
There were 215 participants in the race this year, Guske said. Josh and Caleb Edmonds, of Cooperstown, were the overall men’s winners, and Michelle Nizzi, of Frankfort, was the overall women’s winner.
The Millers Mills Ice Harvest takes place each winter, and some of the ice is still used to help refrigerate the ice cream for the social, grange officials said. The two events are the fundraisers that keep the grange going – with the goal this year to replace a damaged wall on the grange building, Collins said.
Residents in Millers Mills are “like one big family” with a community event such as a Halloween or Christmas party at least once per month, so the ice cream social is a way to invite everybody else to experience that community, Guske said.
An example of how the tradition is being kept alive can be seen in Bill and Donna Salamone, who are siblings who both live in Schuyler and said their grandparents used to live in Millers Mills. On Sunday, Bill Salamone’s children, Adam, 11, and Grace, 7, were along to learn more about their family history.
Utica resident Kathleen Bonney, 69, said she travels to the social almost every year – and it’s only partially because the ice cream is so good. Bonney enjoys “gentleness” and “wide-openness” of the event, and that everybody is together behind it, she said.
“Young and old together,” she said.
Getting together to eat some ice cream means a little more once per year in Millers Mills.
The practice of holding an ice harvest each winter and an ice cream social each summer started about a century or longer ago in this hamlet in the southern Herkimer County town of Columbia, said Carol Collins, a member of the Millers Mills Grange No. 581 that puts on the events.
“It’s a wonderful tradition that has kept our community together for generations,” Collins said.
The summer event has expanded over the years to become the Millers Mills Sundae Run and Ice Cream Social. The 5K run is known as the official cool-down event to the Boilermaker Road Race in Utica and took place for the 17th time this year, grange master Judy Guske said.
There were 215 participants in the race this year, Guske said. Josh and Caleb Edmonds, of Cooperstown, were the overall men’s winners, and Michelle Nizzi, of Frankfort, was the overall women’s winner.
The Millers Mills Ice Harvest takes place each winter, and some of the ice is still used to help refrigerate the ice cream for the social, grange officials said. The two events are the fundraisers that keep the grange going – with the goal this year to replace a damaged wall on the grange building, Collins said.
Residents in Millers Mills are “like one big family” with a community event such as a Halloween or Christmas party at least once per month, so the ice cream social is a way to invite everybody else to experience that community, Guske said.
An example of how the tradition is being kept alive can be seen in Bill and Donna Salamone, who are siblings who both live in Schuyler and said their grandparents used to live in Millers Mills. On Sunday, Bill Salamone’s children, Adam, 11, and Grace, 7, were along to learn more about their family history.
Utica resident Kathleen Bonney, 69, said she travels to the social almost every year – and it’s only partially because the ice cream is so good. Bonney enjoys “gentleness” and “wide-openness” of the event, and that everybody is together behind it, she said.
“Young and old together,” she said.
