Queuing up for an icy nirvana
WESTFORD -- On a recent Saturday night, it looked as though everyone had had a craving for ice cream at the same time, and had ended up at Kimball Farm. Both parking lots were full with drivers patiently waiting for spots. Those in line watched the early birds lick their oversize ice cream cones and sip their floats and frappes. One couple sat in their convertible, eating their ice cream and listening to the Red Sox game -- if you couldn't make it to Fenway, their seats seemed to be the second-best way to catch the game. Children in line discussed trying new flavors or tried to convince their parents they really could eat an entire banana split, while adults stared at the large flavor boards in deep concentration. By their expressions, one might have thought they were reading the latest news headlines, but instead they were trying to decide between Mocha Almond Assault and Moo Tracks before their turn came. Indecisiveness seems to strike often when choices are so tempting.
Ask anyone familiar with Kimball Farm about the place and they will mention the apple picking in the fall, the driving range, the quaint country store, the miniature golf course that is like no other. But then they will smile and say that what really draws them is the ice cream: ice cream so good that promises are made never to eat the chain or grocery store version again.
At a time when even toddlers find themselves overcommitted, Kimball Farm is a refreshing nod to a simpler era. It's one of the few places to see families and couples enjoying not only one another's ice cream but one another's company.
Kimball Farm, which has grown over the years to four locations, began as a single dairy farm in 1908, when the family sold milk from their cows to the wholesale market. In 1939, a traveling salesman asked the late John Allen Kimball if he had an interest in opening an ice cream stand, offering to sell him ice cream mix. Kimball liked the idea and decided it was worth a try. Kimball's ice cream was born. This family enterprise is still just that: The founder's grandsons, brothers Peter and Michael Kimball, grew up working here before and after school doing everything from serving and making the ice cream to cleaning. After high school, they took responsibility for the business and continue to oversee it.
A major change was the addition in May 2000 of a 36-hole miniature golf course at the original site here. The course features rustic buildings and cascading waterfalls, and encircles a large pond complete with bumper boats. If you feel as if you're in Disney World, that's not surprising, since the firm that designed the course also constructed the Jurassic Park exhibit at Universal Studios in Orlando. The 200-acre property includes a driving range and hosts corporate events.
But it's the ice cream that draws customers back. The sign boards list New England flavors such as gingersnap molasses, grapenut, and frozen pudding. Some of the other flavors among the 40-plus offered are peach, strawberry (made with fruit from Parlee Farms, which is down the road), butterscotch, and white chocolate almond. In September, pumpkin ice cream is very popular as well as an apple crisp flavor. Kimball's also makes its own sorbets and frozen yogurts.
During the summer, 26 employees are on hand to take orders and scoop, and at the 10 windows the lines are usually at least 15 people long. Fortunately, they move quickly. To satisfy this demand, Kimball's makes 700 gallons of ice cream every day at the main Westford location during the summer season, for that location as well as ice cream stands in nearby Carlisle and Jaffrey, N.H., and at Aquaboggan Water Park in Saco, Maine. Some of the customers have been coming to the Westford store for more than 25 years, says general manager Ed Dumont, who attributes this loyalty to premium ingredients, a 14 percent butterfat level (commercial varieties hover around 10 percent ), and, most importantly, the mixing method. While the ice cream stand began with a mix from a traveling salesman combined with the farm's own milk, for many years Kimball Farm has used a premium commercial ice cream base.
This is flavored with pure vanilla, chocolate, coffee, or fresh fruit purees, and then the mixture is spun and frozen and the finishing touches that set this ice cream apart are added. The add-ins -- cookies, candies, fruits or nuts -- are hand-fed
into the ice cream. Because of this method, whatever is added
remains whole instead of being ground in, says Dumont, resulting in a rich ice cream with definite texture and tastes.
Every week, Dumont says, he watches car after car pull in and sees the kids jump out at the mini golf course, the dad go over to the driving range, and the mother park and poke around the country store. The family then might reconvene at the ice cream stand to enjoy their treats together. For some, a trip here is a family tradition they are passing down to their children. Waiting in line with his 5-year-old son, a man says he had come here as a child when the ice cream stand was on the porch of the small farmhouse next door to the present structure. Though he lives about 20 minutes away, he brings his kids to see their grandparents and always includes a trip to Kimball Farm.
Kimball Farm Ice Cream is located at 400 Littleton Road, Westford, 978-486-3891; Route 124, Jaffrey, N.H., 603-532-5765; 343 Bedford Rd (Route 225), Carlisle, 978-369-1910; and Aquaboggan Water Park, 980 Portland Road (Route 1), Saco, Maine, 207-282-3112.
