If you’ve spent any time outside recently,

chances are you’ve come in with mud on your boots.  And if you’re like us, those boots were probably L.L.Bean boots.  We’ve grown up in those boots, and when L.L.Bean asked us to help them celebrate their 100^th anniversary this year with a special ice cream flavor, it didn’t take us long to come up with Muddy Bean Boots.

Muddy Bean Boots starts with our award-winning Old-Fashioned Vanilla ice cream, then we criss-cross it with sweet caramel ripple and throw in some rich chocolate brownie bites.  Try a cone at one of our five family-owned stands in Maine, or look for it at stands and other locations that serve Gifford’s, and let us know what you think!

At the end of the season, we’ll partner with L.L.Bean to donate a portion of the proceeds from Muddy Bean Boots to support Healthy Hometowns, a non-profit Maine based program that engages young people and their families in active, healthy, lifestyles through outdoor recreation.

Words we like: “Our stands are open!”

Welcome Spring 2012 with your first Gifford’s cone, frappe or sundae of the season at one of our five stands.  The great employees in Skowhegan, Farmington, Bangor, Waterville or Auburn have worked hard to get everything ready for our 32^nd year. 

We have a lot of fun things in store this year, including two birthday celebrations:  our Farmington stand is 30 and our Bangor stand is 25.  6 NEW flavors for 2012 including: Bananas Foster, Peanut Butter Cookies n Cream and Swiss Chocolate.  (And if those don’t make you hungry, don’t worry – we have nearly 50 flavors to choose from!)

Learn what we’re up to by following us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/GiffordsIceCreamMaine).  That’s where we’ll keep you updated about our ever-changing Flavor of the Week, Fabulous Frappe Specials, movie, mini-golf and batting cage promotions and a few surprises.

We’re planning a fun summer and want you to be part of it.  See you soon!

It’s hard to believe 2011 is in the books.

We think time must certainly speed up during the holidays, and it’s always a bit of a struggle to get back on schedule in January.  The new snow always helps, though, as it covers everything in a blanket of white and creates a blank slate for things to come in the year ahead.

So what does that mean for us at Gifford’s?

We’re busy making ice cream (if you’re reading this, you probably love eating ice cream all year long, too!), making plans for opening our stands in March (it will be here soon!) and reading the customer comments that help us stay on our game.

And because we’re in Maine, we find time to bundle up and play outside in the snow.  After a long, cold day, we relax and warm up by the fire with a steaming mug of hot chocolate, made better by adding a big scoop of our Old Fashioned Vanilla to it.

Enjoy your winter!

So much running around to do – wouldn’t it be easier to just pick up the phone?!

Because we’ll be starting next season off with the debut of a new T-shirt design, we decided to clean out the closet – and YOU can reap the benefit! We have a very limited supply of our “Road Sign” (in beige or black) and “Best on Earth” (chocolate brown) T-shirts on sale, below cost, for only $6.00 each (plus shipping if applicable).

Dial our Skowhegan office at 800-950-2604 ext. 43 (Mastercard, Visa, and Discover cards accepted) and check some names off that list!

Time seems to move more rapidly at the end of the year.

There is travel to consider, holiday meals to plan and shop for, parties to attend, and gifts to buy.

Why put up with this craziness?  Because of friends and family who are part of our lives.  They’re the ones we welcome into our homes from faraway places, the ones we wrestle with a turkey for, and the ones who bring smiles to our faces when we think we’ve found just the right gift.

It’s all worth it.

At Gifford’s, we’re thankful for our colleagues at work, our families, our suppliers and you, our customers.  To you we say thanks, we hope you have a great Thanksgiving, and that time slows down just a little in the days ahead.

It’s change-up time in the  Special Batch line…

Chocolate Moose Tracks ice cream “Creamy chocolate ice cream rippled with melt-on-your-tongue Moose Tracks^® fudge and sprinkled with mini peanut butter cups” for all of the fans who mentioned this flavor on Facebook.

Mountainberry Cheesecake frozen yogurt “The rich flavor of Cheesecake in a smooth low-fat yogurt swirled with blackberries and nuggets of real cheesecake” – all of that in a creamy, tasty, low-fat treat!

On the shelves at participating retailers in the next few weeks.

Although we offer some really great flavors all year long, we also like to mix it up sometimes…

Toasted Coconut, ”Rich coconut ice cream liberally blended with chocolate toasted coconut flakes”, is a new flavor at scoop shops this year and has been a favorite topic among our Facebook fans.

Strawberry frozen yogurt, ”An abundance of Northwest strawberries pack this sweet, creamy, low-fat yogurt with the flavor of summer”, offers a simple and tasty choice for our low-fat devotees.

Gifford’s Special Batch retail quarts – new flavors or old favorites – pick some up today!

Like it or not, fall is right around the corner.

While that means saying goodbye to summer, it also means saying hello to a new season and everything great about fall in Maine.

Like our Pumpkin ice cream.  We make it with real pumpkin, not a concoction of mystery stuff that’s good enough for some folks.

That’s also the case with other flavors you’ll find in our stands and at your favorite grocery store.  We could use less expensive ingredients, add some colors and fancy packaging, and cut a few corners.

But our Grape-Nuts with Vanilla – a crunchy, creamy favorite in central Maine – is made with real Post Grape-Nuts.  We use almonds, pecans and pistachios and don’t mix in other nuts that cost less.  Our fruit ice creams use whole Maine Wild Blueberries and premium strawberries from Washington state.  Real Maine maple syrup gives our Maple Walnut unbeatable, authentic flavor.

And we start every batch of every flavor with fresh Maine milk from local family farms.

Making great ice cream is a process that depends on each and every ingredient.  That’s why we use only the best, every time, all the time.