Young's Jersey Dairy is a family entertainment destination which might have made P.T. Barnum a bit jealous. The cornucopia of attractions includes: a farm-themed eighteen hole miniature golf course, driving range, batting cages, farm animal petting area, full service restaurant at the Golden Jersey Inn, bakery, gift shop, large picnic area and a corn maze. There is another major attraction at Young's - ice cream.
Young's serves too much ice cream to rely on the cows on hand to provide all of their milk needs so the raw ingredients are obtained from a local dairy co-op. The grass to scoop time can be as short as one week. It takes huge quantities of ice cream to fuel all of Young's customers in their various activities, sometimes over 3000 gallons per week. Much of the ice cream ends up in the Moovelous Milkshakes which consist of two to five dips of rich French Vanilla. All of the standard flavors are available as well as some unique creations such as Cow Patty - chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips and other goodies mixed in. Young's also supplies ice cream to a couple scoop shops in the Dayton area and the Corwin Peddler, a small store along the Little Miami scenic (bike) trail.
Dan Young, ringmaster of this array of diversions, is not the CEO of Young's, he lists himself as CICD - Chief Ice Cream Dipper. He is assisted by fourteen second and third generation Youngs, and roughly 150 other employees engaged in making ice cream, dipping it or performimg some other activity to ensure customers are enjoying themselves. The goal of the Young family is for other families to have fun, an opportunity offered 364 days per year. (They do take Christmas Day off.)
6880 Springfield-Xenia Rd. / Rt 68, Yellow Springs, 937/325-0629. Open all week, 6 a.m. - 10 p.m. (or later).