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143: An Homage to a Love Icon

February is quite a month for us! On the 2nd, we experienced Ice Cream for Breakfast Day at our Clayton location, and we had an absolutely amazing turnout! And of course, since Valentine’s Day is February 14th, we celebrate love all month long with our #puckerforapint contest! Have you entered yet? You should! And because this month of love is so special to us, we wanted to create a very special flavor to go with it. It’s called “143.” While a numerical ice cream flavor may seem strange at first, we think you’ll love the meaning behind it!

Fred Rogers, the legendary children’s television host of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, had a favorite number. Yes, it was 143! The reason behind it is simple and touching: “It takes one letter to say ‘I’ and four letters to say ‘love’ and three letters to say ‘you.’ One hundred and forty-three.” Many of us have favorite numbers, but how many of us can say we base our favorite number around the concept of love? Probably not many! Mister Rogers was certainly a class act whose mission was to spread love to people, and he even expresses that mission through simple numerology. A common anecdote is that, in his last 30 years, he strived to keep his weight at 143–that’s how important the number was to him!

We knew we wanted to pay homage to Mister Rogers with a special flavor, and we wanted that flavor to delight the child within all of us. We use our all-natural strawberry ice cream as the base and mix in some magic with purple marshmallow swirls! Utterly delicious and beautiful, but that wasn’t enough. This flavor really isn’t complete without candy conversation hearts. Mister Rogers was a beacon of love, so what better way to commemorate him than with adorable candy hearts that communicate love as well?

Sadly, Mister Rogers is not here to try our 143 flavor, but we have a suspicion in our hearts that he would have loved it. Valentine’s Day is typically associated with romantic love, but through this flavor, we want to express neighborly love–the spirit of Mister Rogers. We truly appreciate all of our guests, and we hope that our ice cream helps spread love in your lives. “Neighbor” doesn’t just mean that you live near us, it means friend. So, will you be our neighbor?