The Dakota’s Best Ice Cream Parlor Is About 4 Hours From Bismarck

Summertime and ice cream just go together like two peas in a pod.  There are not many stand-alone ice cream parlors anymore.  Growing up, Happy Joes Pizza in Grand Forks had a pretty good ice cream shop inside the pizza restaurant, that my friends and I would often frequent.  That was eventually scaled down to make room for a bigger arcade.

Believe it or not, I discovered an ice cream parlor on the way to the lake several years ago, which I"ve been dying to tell you about.  My family and I have a lake place in northeast South Dakota near the town of Waubay, South Dakota.  Nestled in the middle of this quaint small city is "The Purple Cow" ice cream shop.  Located right on Highway 12 not far from Blue Dog Lake.  Waubay is about 61 miles from Aberdeen, South Dakota.

The Purple Cow is actually located in a purple building.  I sat down with its owner Adam Jorgenson to find out why the Purple Cow is attracting herds of people from all over the country.  The Jorgenson family originally owned the Purple Cow from 1990 to 1996 before they sold it.  After of couple of failed ownerships, the Jorgenson family decided to buy it back to use as a retail store for their meat business.  It was at that point they decided to fulfill a dream of building a purple barn and the Purple Cow ice cream parlor was reborn.  Owner Adam Jorgenson says they named it "The Purple Cow" because it's a catchy name that people remember.

The Purple Cow has a very cool atmosphere inside the building as well.  You'll find about 23 flavors of ice cream at any given time but the flavors are constantly changing as they run out, and that happens a lot as this is a busy place.  Don't let the lines of people scare you though, as the Purple Cow has a tremendous staff that gets you in and out fast.  It's a well-oiled machine if you will.

Owner Adam Jorgenson says it's pretty cool that people who used to come in when they were kids, now bring their own children for ice cream when they're visiting.

The city of Waubay is in the heart of the glacial lakes area of South Dakota and it has about 40 lakes within about 10 miles of the city.  Since it's a vacation destination, you get people from all over the country visiting the Purple Cow.

Adam Jorgenson loves his staff and bringing back the Purple Cow was one of the best decisions they ever made.  Jorgenson Meat is also located inside the Purple Cow.  Jorgenson says, "Where else can you buy bacon while eating an ice cream cone?"  In fact, the Purple Cow this past weekend was featuring a Cinnamon, Brown Sugar, and Bacon shake.  Nummy!  Check out some of the photos of the Purple Cow below.

Next time you're in northeast South Dakota, the Purple Cow is defiantly worth a lick!