Ruritans Ready 35th Annual Palmer Ice Cream Supper
As the electric motor whirrs, turning the shafts and powering the pulleys on his homebuilt ice-cream freezer cart, Grigg Mullen III keeps a close eye on the sweet mixtures churning in the machine’s two 20-quart metal tubs, packed in wooden barrels filled with ice and salt. He watches carefully for just the right moment to add in crushed Oreo cookies or chocolate chips, according to the flavor recipes.
Mullen, a Newport News shipyard-trained machinist who worked for 10 years in VMI’s physics department, now runs his own shop, Grigg’s Timber Carts – fabricating machines for moving heavy timbers, which he sells to customers all over the U.S., Canada, and even overseas. And in this hot August week he, his rolling ice-cream freezer machine, and a group of dedicated volunteers are vital to the massive preparations for the Effinger Ruritan Club’s upcoming 35th annual Palmer Ice Cream Supper – a local event with deep, wide-reaching roots.
These crewmembers are busy churning several hundred gallons of fresh ice cream – peach, strawberry, banana, berry chocolate chip, coffee, vanilla and chocolate, plus Oreo and a dairy-free option: coconut almond chocolate chip – from the best ingredients, like ripe peaches from local growers.
The 35th annual Palmer Ice Cream Supper will take place this Saturday, Aug. 16, from 4 to 8 p.m. (rain or shine) at the Palmer Community Center, 1230 Blue Grass Trail (Va. 612), about nine miles southwest of Lexington. Admission and parking are free; abundant food is available for purchase. Ice cream can be purchased by the single or double scoop and in quart containers, and as always, the ice cream portions will be generous. A 50/50 raffle will offer prizes in cash and edible treats.
Three local musical ensembles – Betty and the Hot Flashes, Plank Road Express, and So Diverse – will sing for their suppers to entertain the crowds, and dancing is encouraged. While tables and chairs will be available in the food-service section, it’s a good idea to bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating in the music area.
Naturally, the ice cream supper’s biggest draw for kids of all ages is that sweet, summery frozen treat: fresh homemade ice cream. Mullen, a Rockbridge County High School graduate who’s attended the annual event for some three decades with his family, jokes in deadpan fashion, “I think it’s important that people know it’s okay to get ice cream before and after supper at the event.” Life is short, after all, so why not eat dessert first – and last?
For the main course, there’ll be hand-pulled pork barbecue to savor, courtesy of Lexington’s own Sunrise BBQ (formerly Beame Up BBQ), plus hamburgers and cheeseburgers from Cattlemen’s Market, along with hot dogs and vegetarian chili. As usual, the menu will also feature corn-on-the-cob, fresh-cut French fries, and local farm-grown fixings like coleslaw and heirloom tomatoes.
Full Circle Catering joins this year’s community effort by donating compostable bowls and utensils. Bank of Botetourt, W.R. Deacon and Sons Timber Inc., and several individual donors have sponsored shade tents for the day. Many others also provide valuable assistance.
Dozens of volunteers and donors of all ages give their time and resources to make this annual event a reality. For instance, local emergency first responders volunteer their time and skill. The musicians donate their talent each year too, as does Randy Leech in the sound-equipment booth. Area students come out to help dish up ice cream, and Rockbridge Conservation members staff the waste and recycling station, thus minimizing trash to the landfill.
Mullen’s home-brewed, cart-borne, double- barreled freezer machine – for which he traveled all the way to Ohio, twice, to source freezers and parts from Amish shops – has reduced the club’s annual ice-cream making time from two or three days to one.
“Now with the two 20-quart freezers, and a bunch of spare tins and dashers, it’s a pretty efficient operation,” he explained. “I really like ice cream. I like problem-solving and making things. The ice cream machine has been enjoyable to make in that regard.” Over the past several years, Mullen has also meticulously tweaked and taste-tested the recipes to enhance both flavor and consistency.
Families like Mullen’s come from around the region to attend the Palmer Ice Cream Supper every year. It’s a community homecoming of sorts, where the generations can gather and share hometown memories and traditions, just as Mullen’s old-school technology lives on as a delightful bridge between past and present, and into the future. That’s how Mullen got involved with the event. “My mom knows folks who were volunteers back [when we first started attending] and suggested I could be helpful,” he said.
The annual ice cream supper benefits the Palmer Community Center, a sturdy white clapboard structure built in 1903 as the first high school in Rockbridge County, and now a historic landmark available for rental to local groups and individuals. The building contains high-ceilinged former classrooms (now meeting rooms) and a large kitchen, and offers a wide, flat lawn suitable for outdoor festivities.
Founded in 1928, Ruritan is a civic service organization, made up of local clubs in small towns and rural communities, with the motto “Fellowship, Goodwill, and Community Service.” The Effinger chapter serves the neighborhoods of Effinger, South Buffalo, and Collierstown through projects like trade-school and college scholarships for local students, annual roadside cleanup, and supporting the Rockbridge Area Relief Association and Rockbridge Christmas Basket program.
THE CROWDS have always been large at the Palmer Ice Cream Supper, as seen in this view taken from the Palmer Community Center in 2010.
GRIGG MULLEN III (center, in white t-shirt) leads a group of Ruritan volunteers in churning up fresh ice cream at a previous Palmer Ice Cream Supper.
MACHINIST Grigg Mullen III designed and built this custom cart to streamline the annual event’s ice-cream making process. Its two 20-quart freezers, sourced from Amish suppliers in Ohio, can run on electric or diesel power.
