In Search of the Best Maple Creemee (and Maybe a New Family Tradition)

How do you know when a family tradition starts?

Is it the second time you do something? The third? Or does it simply begin with a conversation prompting curiosity in the van that spurs us to take action?

Somewhere south of Middlebury, tired from a trip to Burlington and driving towards the house we rented in Danby, my children and I started talking about maple creemees. My daughter Liberty is never one to hold back, and so she asked where we could get one and suggested we get one now. In that moment, I knew we were not going home without a maple creemee.

I had been curious about maple creemees for a while. If you have not heard of them, they are soft-serve ice cream served in Vermont that have a higher fat content and are sweetened with real maple syrup. I had followed several Vermont-focused social media accounts that had people sharing their favorite spots that included general stores, road-side stands, and everything in between. People judge maple creemees on flavor, cones, toppings, and the ambiance of the place.

I was not planning on this quest, but as Liberty made her request and Cade started looking for options on his phone. We clearly had a new mission.

The problem was we had already passed a number of maple creemee places around Burlington. Once we started looking, we came across one stand that was closed until later in the afternoon.  Another shop seemed to be selling more cigarettes than maple creemees. My hope was starting to fade. It was our last night in Vermont before heading west to Bethel Woods in the Catskills for a James Taylor concert. Cade had an online game that evening. I was ready for a quiet night of reading. Maybe this would have to wait.

But then – a sign.

Photo of Otter Creek Fun Center Signage from Google Maps.

A big soft-serve cone cutout on a fence, promising the “BEST MAPLE CREEMEE IN VERMONT.” I turned the van into the lot. The Otter Creek Fun Center stood before us. It had arcade games, a bounce house, miniature golf, and even a driving range. For a family who came for bookstores and babbling brooks, it felt like a different kind of experience. But, it was rocking. Kids were having fun while their parents enjoyed a respite.

We ordered our three plain maple creemees and enjoyed the experience. Plain, because we anticipated needing the baseline for comparison. I suppose the good flavor is not too surprising given that a little extra fat content and the maple syrup made it far superior to any soft-serve ice cream I had had before this. I later learned that The Otter Creek Fun Center has quite the cult following of people raving about its creemees, including the comments in Yankee Magazine. But, one maple creemee does not make a tradition.

A year later, I was back in Vermont – this time solo, attending a poetry festival in Woodstock, VT and tried a maple creemee at Woodstock Scoops.  What could be better than having a maple creemee in one of the most picturesque towns in Vermont? It was very good, but my kids were not there.

Sign on the Woodstock Middle Bridge says, "Kids and adult bridge fairies put treasures of various kinds on the bridge. They're for the benefit of the community at large. Enjoy them, but please DON'T steal from the fairies."

Six weeks later, I brought the kids to Woodstock. We walked downtown with our maple creemees in hand, crossing the Woodstock Middle Bridge over the Ottauquechee River.  We noticed the “bridge fairies” work – a local custom where small toys and handmade art is placed along the pedestrian side of the bridge. It felt whimsical and unique, like so much of Vermont.

On the same trip, we tried another maple creemee at the Maple Reserve Café in Manchester Center.  Different vibe. Still delicious. Different memory. And maybe that is the point.

Traditions don’t always start with ceremony.  Sometimes, they begin with an unexpected conversation and desire to learn more or try something new. I love it when my kids are curious about something new. I have a feeling we will keep chasing the next maple creemee. And maybe, without realizing it, we were building something sweet turning a one-time occurrence into a family tradition.