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De Dee's Dairy, winner of `Best Frozen Treat` in the 2022 NFP `Savory Summer Eats & Treats` fan vote, is located at 8715 Niagara Falls Blvd., Niagara Falls.
De Dee's Dairy, winner of "Best Frozen Treat" in the 2022 NFP "Savory Summer Eats & Treats" fan vote, is located at 8715 Niagara Falls Blvd., Niagara Falls.

De Dee's Dairy opens for season, serving up all your 'flavorites'

Fri, Mar 10th 2023 11:00 am

By Elijah Robinson

Contributing Writer

De Dee’s Dairy is reopening for the season, marking the establishment’s 40-year anniversary.

Doors will open Friday at 3 p.m., and the shop will welcome customers seven days a week until sometime in October.

Alongside his staff of six to eight scoopers, co-owner Gary Wilcox said he anticipates a busy day, weather permitting.

Gary has been running this business with his son, Ryan Wilcox, and nephew, Robert Urso, since they bought it 18 years ago. The ice cream shop remains a Niagara Falls staple, known across the state and beyond, as it has been known as a fun place to go for unique tasty treats.

“It’s a destination for people to come to as a sign of the end of winter (and the) beginning of spring,” Gary said.

De Dee’s is Perry’s Ice Cream’s No. 1 account store, including all of Buffalo. Customers have over 60 flavors of Perry’s Ice Cream to choose from.

Quantity is king here, as Gary explained the shop is well known for its generous portions, giving customers a bang for their buck.

Keeping with tradition, this year the new specialty flavors De Dee’s will be serving for the season are Bourbon Caramel Pecan, Mallow-dramatic and Wafer Wonder. The shop will continue its flavor of the week.

In addition, De Dee’s offers dairy-free options for patrons so no one is left out of the fun.

Featured items include milkshakes, and a three- to six-scoop banana split.

De Dee’s also will offer its popular original Orange Chocolate-flavored custard. The store also carries baked goods to go with the ice cream – brownies for hot fudge brownie sundaes, and apple pie squares for pie à la mode.

A high supply of Perry's Ice Cream surrounds De Dee's Dairy co-proprietor Gary Wilcox, as his sweet shop prepares for the 2023 season

••••••••

Up to this point, De Dee’s has been on social media, letting people know their favorite Niagara Falls ice cream shop is coming back and, according to Gary, people immediately wanted to know what their latest flavors were, and if the standards were still there.

The shop is stocked up on the custard, ice cream and all the other frozen treats it has to offer, and has the equipment ready, prepared for the long line of customers who have been eagerly awaiting the shop’s return.

Longtime fans of De Dee’s, and ice cream lovers in general, can’t wait to indulge in the well-known frozen treats — ranging from those banana split sundaes to ice cream cakes, ice cream bombs to other delicious treats offered at De Dee’s.

“Niagara Falls is a community that enjoys their ice cream,” Gary said. “You’ll come by here … in the middle of summer when the weather is behaving, and the awnings up outside with the picnic tables out, there’s lines that’ll be going out the door.”

Although he’s been a businessman for a long time, Gary said he still wants to stick around and keep running the shop for as long as he can.

“It helps me to have a purpose, to do things,” he said. “I feel as though it's a family thing, and I help out the family this way.”

De Dee's Dairy is fully stocked with popular ice cream flavors for a Friday reopening. The legendary ice cream shop offers more than 60 flavors of ice cream, with three new flavors that will be served for the entire season.

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