Very few people would know that the International Day of Ice Cream is celebrated on the third Sunday of July – unless you are American and are a fan of the U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

The U.S. President in 1984 made “Ice Cream Day” an official food holiday in America and went on to declare the third Sunday of July the National Ice Cream Day and the month of July the National Ice Cream month.

In Samoa a local ice cream parlour in Apia has embraced the tradition that the former U.S. President promoted, for the love of one of the world’s best known confectionaries, and marked Sunday 18 July a special day on their business calendar.

Chillz Samoa owner, Terina Langkilde, told the Samoa Observer that Sunday 18 July is very special day on their Calendar.

“The third Sunday of July is special in our Chillz calendar as it is International Ice Cream Day and to celebrate we are introducing chocolate ice cream to our range, chocolate mixed with our delicious fruits,” she said.

The entrepreneur said this year marked their first celebration of the U.S. International Ice Cream Day and they even collaborated with Samoan tailoring giant Eveni Carruthers to celebrate.

“This year we really pushed it and cooperated with Eveni Carruthers for people to follow us on Instagram and Facebook as there are prizes to be won,” she said.

Consequently, Chillz Samoa opened to the public on Sunday between 3pm and 9pm for a mini-ice cream festival, attracting a lot of customers from children to adults. 

Ms Langkilde believes that the timing of the business’ opening on Sunday was perfect, coming in after the Sunday to’onai with family after church. 

One speciality of Chillz Samoa is they make their own ice-cream, though they also complement their own by also ordering from Uncle Johnny’s to mix with fresh fruits.

And the lockdown during the current COVID-19 state of emergency does not seem to have impacted the business, with sales going good due to a steady number of customers going in for ice-cream, smoothies and waffles.