INDIANAPOLIS — Ice cream and heat waves go hand-in-hand, right? That depends on which ice cream business you speak to.
It's been a hot week in Indiana. Typically in the month of June, Indianapolis will only have three or four 90 degree days.
So far in June 2025, we've hit the 90 degree mark five days in a row (each day from June 21-25).
In a normal calendar year, Indianapolis typically has about 20 days with 90 degree or higher temperatures.
All of this to say, people are definitely looking for ways to beat the heat.
I visited Papa Curl Ice Cream, an ice cream truck based out of Beech Grove. The truck was parked at a Farmers Market off of Stop 11 Road in Indy.
"Ice cream is tough," said Mike Beach of Papa Curl Ice Cream. "Keeping water cold."
Beach demonstrated how he mixes the cold water with a pineapple-flavored powder to make Dole Pineapple Whip.
"Once it's fixed up, it goes in the machine," he continued while whisking the mixture. "Takes about 10, 15 minutes to get frozen."
Beach has had a tough week: earlier this week, one of his machines overheated.
"Last night when the machine went down, we did frozen cups and shakes," Beach explained. "People understand when the machine goes down and it's too hot, what do you do?"
Beyond trying to keep the ice cream and equipment cool, Beach takes the truck to different events and farmers' markets around the area. He says attendance at these events is down during the heat wave.
"Once it gets about 85 degrees, 90 degrees, nobody wants to come out," Beach said. "The ones that do, they're sweating, standing in line for ice cream, and they have to eat it quick because it does melt very fast."
The best ice cream weather, according to Beach, is when temperatures are between 70 and 80 degrees.
Others in the ice cream business are having an influx of customers this week.
"It means an uptick in business," Chrisy Frazier explained of the heat wave.
Frazier owns The Frigid Frog in Plainfield. The storefront has been there for nine years. One perk of the storefront? Air conditioning.
"We've found that more people are coming in during the day," Frazier continued. "Maybe to get a cool treat, ice cream, we also offer shaved ice in this location."
Frazier said they've seen all age groups visiting this week, but the middle of the day has been busier when the temperatures are the hottest. She added with a laugh that they've seen a higher number of middle schoolers visiting recently, mostly walking or riding a bike from nearby neighborhoods.
"It is a bit busier, but we're busy really from the time it starts getting warm until the time school goes back," Frazier continued.
No matter if your local ice cream business is busier or not this week, WRTV can confirm from several taste tests on Wednesday that the ice cream is still just as sweet in the heat.
