Gifford's Ice Cream celebrates a successful summer season with fall flavors

File Photo / Tim Greenway Lindsay Skilling, CEO at Gifford's Famous Ice Cream.

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Gifford's Ice Cream is celebrating "its best summer ever" by releasing three limited edition seasonal pints for the first time in its 40-year history.

This summer, the ice cream company broke records by selling 1.2 million gallons of ice cream, according to Lindsay Skilling, CEO of Gifford's and fifth-generation ice cream maker. July sales were up 17%, while August saw an increase of 25%. September is on track to surpass not only last year's sales, said Skilling, but every other September in the company’s history.

"Despite the challenges, Gifford's has had its best summer ever," Skilling said.

The three new flavors - Pumpkin, Apple Pie Churro, and White Peppermint Chocolate Chip - scream autumn in a cup. The new limited edition seasonal Gifford's pints will be available for customers in Maine and New England in select grocery stores, including Hannaford, Market Basket, and Shaw's. They are on store shelves this month and will be available while supplies last.

"We enjoy sitting around together as a family experimenting with new flavors," said Skilling. "We also have fun picking the next one to release. So while we are known for our quart-sized packaging, when we started talking about introducing some seasonal flavors, we couldn't settle on just one. So, we decided to make all three, and what better way to enter the pint market than with some delicious slow-churned and creamy new flavors inspired by the season."

Gifford's Ice Cream is a fifth-generation, family-owned company that makes ice cream the old-fashioned way. The ice cream company operates retail stands in Bangor, Farmington, Skowhegan and Waterville.

Skilling is a 2016 Mainebiz "Women to Watch" and a fifth-generation member of the Gifford family. She joined the business in the late 2000s, became general manager in 2012, and was named CEO in 2016.