45,000 ice creams eaten and new Jūrmala ice cream flavor chosen at the Latvian Ice Cream Festival

Marking the beginning of the summer season, the Latvian Ice Cream Festival was held in Dzintari on May 26. The event gathered tens of thousands of people with a sweet tooth. A record-large amount of ice cream – roughly 4 tons, or 45,000 ice creams – was eaten at the festival, including ice creams of such popular brands as Ekselence, Pols, Tio, Kārums and Rasēns, as well as icy treats made by Latvian home producers Maybella, Gogelmogels, Skrīveru Mājas Saldējums, Rullējums, Grasbergs and Sigulas Saldējums. The event was organized by Latvia’s leading dairy group Food Union – during traditional “Jūrmala Resort Festival”.

New Jūrmala ice cream flavor chosen in a vote
As Jūrmala hosted the Latvian Ice Cream Festival for the second year in a row, visitors of the festival were given a unique opportunity to participate in a vote on the new Jūrmala ice cream flavor. In a tough competition of four flavors a caramel ice cream with salty caramel topping nd caramelized sugar, bearing a symbolic resemblance to amber, was voted the winner.

“Sunny and warm weather, a beautiful beach and many smiling people who love ice cream – these are just a few things characterizing the fantastic qualities of the Latvian Ice Cream Festival. We thank each guest of the Jurmala Resort Festival who visited us and wish that the rest of their summer is just as positive and rich in delicious moments,” says Sandra Usačeva, Food Union Ice Cream Brand Manager.

Concerts, games and activities
Alongside hundreds of kinds of ice cream, exciting activities and contests the program of this year’s Latvian Ice Cream Festival also featured great musical performances by popular Latvian artists like indie-rock band Carnival Youth, singers ElzaRozentāle and EvilenaProtektor, as well as the attractive MC Orchestra. The event was hosted by Jānis Romanovskis and Oskars Lepers.

The exquisite gourmet ice cream Ekselence invited the festival’s visitors to a pop-up café for Ekselence ice cream desserts and a specially arranged photo studio. Legendary Pols ice cream invited guests to mount a giant hobbyhorse, get their photos taken with a Pols bear and then play the legendary games of the 1980s and 1990s, like Super Mario, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Street Fighter, among others. New ice cream brand Tio, meanwhile, offered to dive into a ball pit, enjoy ice cream smoothies and participate in creative workshops. Curd ice cream Kārums invited to Lidotava (Flying Place) and Makšķerēšana (Fishing) game with crow chicks.

New ice cream brand Rasēns surprised with a special attraction – slacklining – where everyone, aided by a professional instructor, could test their balancing skills by walking along a suspended length of a rope. The program also included demonstrations of balancing with elements of acrobatics. Rasēns also invited the young visitors to the MeetUp of RasēnsTVYouTube channel where they could meet the presenters Joret, SindijaLo, Laurlācis and Lota UImane and get cast for the following episodes.