(57) Plymouth County 6.21.2025

We technically started Plymouth County with dinner on Friday (6.20.2025) at the Iowa BBQ Co, as we arrived in LeMars in the evening after exploring Ida County.

Plymouth County officially started on Saturday though with delicious mini donuts, a cinnamon roll, and drinks at the Bellissimo Coffee before heading to the Ice Cream Days Parade! Ice Cream Days was the purpose in visiting Plymouth County this weekend, as LeMars is the “Ice Cream Capital of the World” being the home of Wells Enterprises/Blue Bunny Ice Cream and the largest ice cream facility in the world. The parade kicked off the celebration of ice cream right away as they handed out various ice cream treats 😊 This is a “bucket list” parade in and of itself.

This parade also showcased the largest Shriner’s performance we have ever seen- they put on quite a show!

We traveled back east for a stop in Remsen and stumbled across this immaculate church, St. Mary’s Catholic Church, and couldn’t resist seeing if it was open. A lot of times, churches in these small towns are locked, but this one was open, and we were so glad for that- it was so beautiful with its European style architecture and stain glass.

The grounds also housed a small grotto.

We headed to main street Remsen and stopped at First American Pickers- we love a good antique store!

Back to LeMars for Ice Cream Days. We kicked it off with a visit to the Blue Bunny Wells Visitor Center and Ice Cream Parlor. Not only did we enjoy delicious Blue Bunny Ice Cream treats, we also got to learn all about the history of Wells Enterprises/Blue Bunny.

We strolled the shops along the lively main street

 

And enjoyed some of the festivities

 

We headed to the Plymouth County Historical Museum that is housed in the old LeMars High School. We’ve been to a few other historical museums housed in the old school, but this was by far the biggest! And it wouldn’t be ice cream days without some root beer floats at the historical museum.

Throughout LeMars there are decorated ice cream statues. We each chose our favorite to take a picture with + one extra that we all liked!

We decided we couldn’t leave Plymouth County without trying “tavern” sandwiches, which had been described to us multiple times in the county as a sandwich similar to a “maid rite.” We ended up at Bob’s Diner for our first “tavern” Travis got the original and Angie got the “step-Tavern” which was pepperjack cheese, jalapenos, mustard, and chips. Travis thought it was similar to a Runza and would prefer the “maid-rite” Angie was very pleased with the “step-tavern” and might have been converted over to taverns, despite her former employment at a Maid Rite Diner 😊

Then it was back to the Blue Bunny Wells Visitor Center and Ice Cream Parlor for round 2 because eating ice cream 5 times a day is what you do during “Ice Cream Days” in the Ice Cream Capital of the World! One of us was sick of ice cream by the time the day was done and settled for a snow cone :D

Rate: 3

Other Things to See/Do:

• Akron Area Museum, Akron
• Stegosaurus statue, Akron
• Five Ridge Prairie, Loess Hills
• Broken Kettle Nature Conservancy, Loess Hills
• LeMars Art Center, LeMars
• Remsen Heritage Museum, Remsen
• Avalon Ballroom, Remsen
• Garfield School (last county one room school house), Kingsley