After work this evening I attended the Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl fund raiser. The idea is simple: pay $8 (to charity!), then feast on as much ice cream as you want.
The event runs all week in a quadrant of the plaza outside Government Center. There are about 9 different ice cream vendors, each with about 4 flavors to choose from, served as mini-scoops in individual cups. The cups stack neatly, leading naturally to a competition within any group to see who can acquire the most. I ended up with 14 in total; the “winner” (I use the term very loosely) reached 26.
It was a fun event, with friends, and it seemed like everyone I knew was there. I went with one group of friends and bumped into two others. The crowds made getting to the ice cream a bit tricky, but there were generally no lines. We stayed around for a while after we were full, then walked back across the river.
The ice cream was great, but not really exciting. Of the 30+ flavors, there were probably at least 3 vanillas and 5 chocolates. Most of the flavors were mild, with low concentrations of “extras” like nuts. Strong, unusual varieties were basically absent.
There was a live band, which was sort of amusing. They were clearly very good, and singing songs that I generally enjoy … but the context was all wrong. Aggressive overdriven emo/punk rock, entertaining as it may be, is out of place at an afternoon ice cream fundraiser.