Take a short walk away from campus and you will find a Stewart’s Shops — a place that, when the sun comes out, many Skidmore College students travel to for ice cream. This spring, both Skidmore College and Stewart’s Shops are bringing new life to a beloved ice cream flavor.
“Stewart’s Shops and Skidmore College are teaming up!” a Skidmore College Scope magazine said. “Together we will be introducing a Skidmore-inspired ice cream flavor in spring 2020, and we’re relying on our creative College community to help us determine the flavor and name that best represents Skidmore.”
Skidmore College students, after having tasting sessions outside the Skidmore Shop, selected the pre-existing mint chip as the flavor. Now, it’s between “Big Green Scream,” “Creative Mint Matters,” “Skidmint Chipmore,” “Thoroughbred Tracks” or “Skid Mo’ Mint” for the name.
Stewart’s Shops and Skidmore College wanted to leave the flavor and naming up to the students to make it a community event, according to associate director of brand communications and marketing Martha O’Leary.
“We thought it would be a fun and engaging way to bring the Skidmore community together,” O’Leary said. “Our community is so creative we thought it was the perfect opportunity to create something together that was uniquely Skidmore, while also generating school spirit.”
During this year’s Big Green Scream on Feb. 15, a basketball game that signifies the end of the season, Skidmore College and Stewart’s Shop will announce their ice cream flavor name. Of the names, the two most popular, based on a student vote, will be publicized at the event and everyone at the Big Green Scream will get a say. This year’s game will be against Clarkson University.
“At the Big Green Scream the students and all attendees at the game will actually be able to vote on the flavor name by the loudest scream and cheers in the crowd,” Stewart’s Shops public relations specialist Erica Komoroske said. “We will have Flavor the Cow [from Stewart’s Shops] and Skids the mascot to help figure out what that new name will be. It’s a green flavor launched at the Big Green Scream.”
During the event, each student can get a complimentary three-ounce scoop of the ice cream in a compostable bowl. But starting the following weekend, students can go to one of the 10 participating Stewart’s Shops to get the ice cream through the end of this school year. The Skidmore ice cream will also appear in the Atrium Cafe, The Spa, the Murray-Aikins Dining hall during Sundae Sundays and throughout different events during the 2020 school year.
The partnership happened after Stewart’s Shops asked Skidmore College to partner with them to name an ice cream flavor. To Komoroske, this partnership is special because Skidmore College and Stewart’s Shops are both local to the town.
“We source our milk to make our ice cream from 25 local dairies. That milk that we use to make our ice cream is local,” Komoroske said. “We’re so happy to partner with Skidmore, a local college, and so happy that Skidmore chose Stewart’s Shops, a local business, to partner with for this initiative.”