Junk Food Nation, I have a very good relationship with Turkey Hill. I’ve reviewed Turkey Hill Ice Cream a BUNCH on this blog. Located just across the border of Maryland in Columbia, PA, the Turkey Hill HQ is only two hours away from my home in DC.  I’ve been invited out there to tour the factory as well, getting to sample ice cream RIGHT off the line.  In short, I’m a big fan.

Recently, Turkey Hill reached out seeking people to help promote their All-Natural line of ice cream as FAN-BASSADORS – I blogged about the contest a few months ago. I decided at the last second to throw my own name into the ring, and BAM! Was selected.  I’m sure you’ve noticed the banner above at the top of my blog.  So, what did this mean? Basically, it has become my job to promote promote promote the Turkey Hill All-Natural line at all costs – social media, one-on-one, etc.  It also meant that I needed to hold three events, giving away free ice cream, to promote Turkey Hill.  Dream job, right? I thought so.

My work colleague knew of a great park with plenty of moms/dads/kids and it sounded like the perfect place to have my taste test.  So let’s take a look at how the event went!

Step 1: Make a fun poster to promote the event.  This only took me 20 minutes!  Wait, is that good? I dunno.

Step 2: Hang the poster in a tree.  Realize that all you have is tape, so TAPE the poster to the tree. Realize that tape does not stick to tree bark.  Also, not in picture, someone left a used diaper in the branches of the tree.  Take down poster immediately.

Ah, there we go.  Why didn’t I just hang the poster here to begin with?  Step 3: Take an overexposed picture next to my fine poster.  (Actually the truth is it was a GORGEOUS day in suburbia VA.  The sun was shining, it wasn’t TOO hot, and there was a nice breeze.  All the perfect elements for eating ice cream.

This is the Turkey Hill cooler I received when I visited the factory.  It’s pretty awesome, because it holds a TON of ice cream.  In fact…

It held TEN 1.5 QUARTS of Turkey Hill All-Natural Ice Cream!  WOOT WOOT.  One little snag: The Giant Grocery I visited only have five flavors of Turkey Hill’s All-Natural line in stock: Vanilla Bean, Chocolate, Cherry Vanilla, Salted Caramel, and their new limited edition Mango.  I was a little down about the small selection, but no worries – I got two of each, packed it in with a lot of ice, and was off!

Setup was simple.  Doctor Sis had given me the great idea of just investing in tiny Dixie Cups and Plastic Spoons, so that was simple enough.  Armed with that and a whole S-LOAD of napkins, I was ready to dish.

I started by putting out one of each of the five flavors. Then I waited. And waited.  This park was gorgeous, but where were the kids?? Where were the parents???  There was a playground RIGHT THERE – WHERE WERE THE PEOPLE???

Oh, then they came.  It started with one family with a bunch of little kids, then more families.  (Hey, notice that I partially blurred out faces? Why? Because I forgot to ask for permission to use their images, and I like NOT getting sued.  Yikes.  Just deal with my weird blurs, people).

Let me just tell you this: KIDS. LOVE. ICE. CREAM!  Eventually a whole swath of kids showed up, and I couldn’t dish the ice cream fast enough!  It was almost as if you could SEE the sugar gradually hyper loading these kids, and it was reflected in their commands: “I want more chocolate!  I want MORE VANILLA!  I WANT MANGO AND VANILLA AND CHOCOLATE ALL IN ONE CUP! GIMME MORE CHERRY! MORE VANILLA!  I LOVE ICE CREAM!!!!!”

At one point, this one little boy put down his cup and spoon, stood up and just yelled at the top of his lungs “THIS. IS. DELICIOUSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”  It was hysterical.  Sorry, parents.

Other kids were more shy and ate their ice cream quietly, but you could tell they enjoyed it.  As an ice cream eater myself, I snuck a few (dozen) Dixie cups of the frozen goodness into my mouth too.

Pretty soon there was lots of parents and kids coming by to try some ice cream.  Safety in numbers, right?  At first, it’s just some weird Asian dude wearing a red T-shirt offering ice cream to little kids.  But if there’s a whole GROUP of people, it MUST be ok…right? Right?

This dog ALSO loved ice cream.  Or at least, the owner said he did.  I am not sure if that was true.

More kids showed up.  It was really fortunate the playground was right there, because once the ice cream was in the belly, these kids were just TEARING AROUND THE PLACE.

I love this picture.  The kid on the very left was clearly excited.

PS: Since when do playgrounds have a nice rubbery composite on the ground, to make the floor safe for kids???  When did THIS happen???  My plagrounds growing up were, I swear, floored in GRAVEL.  If you fell off the swings, you just dealt with the fact that you’d have pebbles lodged under your skin that needed removing by the school nurse.  What amazing developments in playground technology.

It was a GREAT event. Lots of parents and kids left full of ice cream and super happy, I passed out a bunch of swag, and people learned all about Turkey Hill’s All Natural line (I did my best at being an infomercial).  Not bad, huh?  By the end, I was left with one half-tub of melted Salted Caramel Ice Cream, which I dug into the way that Turkey Hill taught me – using the lid.

What are YOU looking at??

Oh right. My pudgy self. Time to go for a run.

Anyways, thanks for this opportunity, Turkey Hill (although I guess this helped YOU out more than ME.  Hmmmm.)  Anyways, I’ll be doing another event in the next two months – maybe you can attend next time, Junk Food Nation!

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. I also have Google+!! Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy