The ever-popular Howling Cow ice cream will be sold, by students and faculty, at the N.C. State fairgrounds booth “The Dairy Bar,” to raise money for the Food Science Club.

Howling Cow ice cream is produced on campus, using milk from the University’s dairy cattle.  The herd produces over 400,000 gallons of milk each year, part of which is used to make the ice cream. Howling Cow ice cream is produced at the dairy processing plant, the Feldmeier Dairy Processing Lab, in Shaub Hall.

Kelly Fletcher, a graduate student in food science, said the ice cream is a good fundraiser for the Food Science Club. 

“We get people who come back year after year, from all over the state.  We even attract some Carolina fans,” Fletcher said. 

According to Megan Beckner, a graduate student in food science, sales from The Dairy Bar fund the Food Science Club activities throughout the year.

“Our fundraising goes to help everything from professional development for our students, several scholarships, [and] our outreach groups,” Beckner said. 

April Morrison, the junior faculty advisor for the Food Science Club and academic advisor for food science, nutrition science, and bioprocessing science, said selling Howling Cow ice cream is the club’s only fundraiser.

“We really don’t need any other [fundraisers],” Morrison said.

According to Fletcher, food science faculty and staff help the club.

“The whole department gets involved.  Professors and office staff, they all help us out scooping ice cream,” Fletcher said.

The Dairy Bar is most likely to be staffed by faculty during the day, according to Morrison.

“The kids take care of all the night and weekend shift, but we fill in during the day,” Morrison said.

Students and staff have been preparing for the fair since this summer.

Fletcher said, “We started making the ice cream in July.  We have only been working on this for about three months now. 

Morrison said the ice cream is made in advance so the dairy can make the large amount that the club orders.

“It takes a lot of time.  It really is a science to hit those heat points… and not hitting the melting point,” Morrison said.

Fletcher said the quality of the ice cream is not affected by being made ahead of time. 

“When it was made, the milk was fresh from the cows,” Fletcher said. “It’s been deep frozen since July.”

Students hope that their preparation will pay off in sales at the fair.  Fletcher said she is confident that the club will sell lots of ice cream.

“We had to make over 4800 gallons of ice cream,” Fletcher said.  “We think we’ll sell out, at least the most popular flavors we hope to sell out.”

Megan Beckner, a graduate student in food science, said she shares this confidence.

“We sold over 1000 3-gallon tubs of ice cream last year, closer to 1500,” Beckner said. “We expect to sell more this year, simply because of the [nicer] weather.  I’d like to shoot for sixteen to seventeen-hundred tubs.”

According to Beckner, the top selling flavors are not chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry.

“The top two would probably be the mint and butter almond,” Beckner said. “People come to the State Fair looking for something they can’t find anywhere else.”

Last year, some flavors did not sell well.  Due to those poor sales, The Dairy Bar will not be stocking all the same flavors they sold last year.

“We won’t be selling any sherbet.  It wasn’t popular enough to bring back.  It’s the same with our sugar free vanilla,” Beckner said. 

One new flavor will be featured at the fair, according to Fletcher.

“We do have one new flavor we are really excited about, Campfire Delight.  It is graham cracker ice cream with marshmallow swirls and dark chocolate chunks,” Fletcher said.

The Dairy Bar will be open for the duration of the State Fair.

Fletcher said, “We will be there as long as the gates are open.”