How sweet it is: Ice cream, custard stands opening, including new one in Arnold

Mary Ann Thomas
Thursday, March 11, 2021 7:00 a.m. | Thursday, March 11, 2021 7:00 a.m.

Nate Smallwood | Tribune-Review

Vanilla ice-cream is scooped onto a cone inside of Cindy’s Soft-Serve and More! in Tarentum on March 23, 2018.

Courtesy of Della’s Custard

Della’s Frozen Custard in Harrison will expand to a new location next month in Arnold at the former Ice Cream Heaven along Freeport Road.

The harbingers of spring are here.

Glen’s Frozen Custard, with locations in Lower Burrell and Springdale, opens Thursday. Della’s Frozen Custard opens Friday. And early Sunday, clocks will be turned ahead an hour for Daylight Saving Time.

Mom-and-pop frozen custard and ice cream shops have been opening this month throughout the Alle-Kiski Valley in anticipation of warmer days. Last week, Lackey’s Dairy Queen in North Apollo offered a free ice cream cone to customers on its first day of the season. Jerry’s Custard in Lower Burrell opened along Seventh Street Road this week for its 20th season.

“It’s starting to warm up already,” said Eli Wilson, a fourth-generation owner at Glen’s. “People are tired of being cooped up — myself included.”

Last summer’s sunny days and the pandemic safety of eating outdoors attracted a swell of customers.

“We were thankful for the nice weather and all the people who came out,” he said.

Same story at other outside frozen treat establishments.

Maybe the time was just right for frozen custard, a frozen dairy product richer than many ice creams that is made with whole eggs, a high grade of cream and butterfat.

“People love frozen custard more particularly with the pandemic,” said Matthew Plocki, a self-proclaimed ice cream fanatic and co-owner of Della’s Frozen Custard on Freeport Road in Harrison. Della’s opens at 3 p.m. Friday.

The owners of Della’s love frozen custard so much they announced Wednesday they’re opening a second location April 8 in Arnold at 1729 Freeport Road, near the New Kensington boundary. The location was formerly Ice Cream Heaven and, before that, a Dairy Queen.

Della’s opening flavors include Della vanilla, black raspberry, peanut butter banana swirl and gourmet shakes, Plocki said.

Glen’s will open with traditional soft-serve favorites with raspberry in Lower Burrell and butterscotch in Springdale. The richer and firmer gourmet frozen custard in about 20 flavors will be rotated, Wilson said.

Glen’s is launching a new website in about a month that will offer more varieties of frozen custard cakes and other confectioneries.