Berkey Creamery to Celebrate 150th Birthday at Pennsylvania Farm Show

The Berkey Creamery isn’t the only Pennsylvania institution celebrating a milestone birthday this year.

The Pennsylvania Farm Show, an agriculture expo in Harrisburg with strong Penn State ties, has hit the century mark this year.

The Creamery and Farm Show will band together at the annual expo next month to celebrate their respective birthdays, as the Creamery wraps up its 150th anniversary yearlong celebration.

Creamery manager Tom Palchak will be at the Farm Show, which runs from Jan. 9 to 16 in Harrisburg, with plenty of ice cream and information about the facility and the creamy confections it churns out daily. 

“There’s almost no part of the Farm Show that Penn State isn’t involved in, so it’s very fitting and really exciting that we can celebrate one of our oldest icons, the Berkey Creamery, while promoting the Pennsylvania dairy industry and agriculture’s bright future,” said Jean Lonie, a College of Agricultural Sciences director who is helping coordinate the Creamery’s appearance at the expo.

As part of the Pennsylvania Farm Show, the Creamery will take part in the Blue Ribbon Reception, providing the Birthday Bash ice cream that was voted in as the shop’s newest flavor. The birthday cake-flavored ice cream includes a blue frosting swirl and frosted cookie freckles inside a yelllow cake batter ice cream base. It beat out strawberry cheesecake and red velvet to become the official birthday flavor. The reception will be held on the evening of Jan. 8, and attendees will receive a souvenir dish with the 150th anniversary logo to go along with their festive frozen feast.

The final day of the expo, Jan. 16, is designated as Dairy Day, providing yet another opportunity for the Creamery to get involved in the Farm Show. Palchak will give two presentations on the Creamery’s history, and attendees will of course get free samples of Birthday Bash ice cream to accompany the talk. There will also be a Scoop-Off contest that afternoon, where participants will see who can make the tallest stable ice cream cone. Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences dean Rick Roush and Palchak will be among the contestants in the Scoop-Off.

There will be plenty to do at the annual Pennsylvania Farm Show, and Penn State is greatly involved in the event, with many students and professors on tap for presentations and exhibits. Fore more information on the Farm Show and the Creamery’s involvement, check out this Penn State News article.