Blue Heron Creamery’s Blue Cookie Monster ice cream with whipped cream and a cherry on top.
Photo courtesy of Blue Heron Creamery
ENFIELD — If you’re craving for a sweet treat to eat especially on a hot sunny day, stop by Blue Heron Creamery, an ice cream shop on 190 Elm St., that offers locally made ice cream, handcrafted milkshakes and New Orleans style snoballs, finely shaved ice and flavored sugar syrup.
Owner Don White Jr. stated, “We’re creating a community space where everybody knows they can come, sit and have a great time. They’ll get great service from friendly staff, and they’ll be supporting a local through and through business.”
Blue Heron tries to use as many local products as possible. All ice cream is made in New Britain, weekly. Employees uniforms are made by a local T-shirt company and the cups and dessert carriers are made by a local paper company.
“We try to do business with the communities that we’re serving because we feel that goes a long way,” White said. He and his business partner, Adam Pierce, are the founders and launched Blue Heron in 2021 in Parkville Market, located in Hartford. They were the mangers of the market at the time, but decided after working with the restaurant owners it was something they could do with their experience.
Originally known as Sno ‘N’ Dough, White and Pierce signed a deal with Noble Gas Stations to expand their brand throughout Connecticut. During that time, they decided to change the name from Sno ‘N’ Dough to Blue Heron Creamery. Blue Heron also has locations in Hartford and East Lyme. All the menus are the same — the only exception is in Hartford, where they have fried treats in place of their soft serve.
Last year, White moved to Enfield with his wife and loved the area. He then was approached by Noble Gas Station Owner Michael Frisbie — who opened a new gas station on 190 Elm St. — and asked if White and Pierce would conduct the retail ice cream in his gas station, to which they happily obliged.
Blue Heron’s grand opening in Enfield on May 3 and 4 was bigger than what White expected. Since then, business is continuing to grow.
“The Enfield community is awesome,” White shared. “The way they come together and support local small businesses is amazing. It was pretty much a no-brainer for us to get an ice cream shop out there.”
He went on to say, “We’re working really hard at Blue Heron to be a beacon of light in a world that seems so dark lately. Everybody loves to come together and eat ice cream so we’re trying to create an environment that is welcoming to people who just want to forget about things for half an hour when they come and get their dessert.”
If you want to try one of Blue Heron’s milkshakes in Enfield, White said their most popular is the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. If you just want ice cream, they have a Blue Cookie Monster ice cream, a vanilla based ice cream dyed blue with Oreos and Chips Ahoy cookies mixed in. And if you wanted to try the snoballs, they have two that are quite popular. One is the Tropical Gusher which is a mango Hawaiian lemon lime and blue raspberry flavored sno topped with tropical gushers. The other is the Sour Patch Watermelon, a watermelon sour apple flavored sno with Sour Patch watermelon candies on top.
Currently, Blue Heron is working to solidify its menu; getting everything where they want it to be long-term. The creamery will be expanding its menu to make sure there is something for everybody, including vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free ice cream, and dairy-free offerings.
From there, White hopes to expand Blue Heron across the entire state of Connecticut. His goal is to be within a few minute drive of anyone in Connecticut. “We’re doing something really special,” said White. “We offer a level of service that’s at least as good as you would expect. Our hope is that it’s even better. We want to continue to help these other local businesses that we’re using to develop our own brand to rise along the top with us.”
Blue Heron Creamery’s hours in Enfield are 2-9 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, 2-10 p.m. on Friday, 12-10 p.m. on Saturday and 12-9 p.m. on Sunday. Visit its website at blueheroncreamery.com as well as Facebook, facebook.com/BlueHeronCreamery and Instagram @blueheroncreameryct.
