Ice Cream Shop Proposal: Scoopin' It Old School

Freshly grown blueberries, strawberries and peaches will be mixed into sweet, creamy, homemade ice cream during the warm months at Mason's Farm Market on Main Street if all of the town approvals are obtained for Old School Ice Cream.

Scott Mason and his wife Kathy plan to transform an old, gray, Cape Cod-style house at 770 Main Street into a red schoolhouse, replete with white trim, a bell and a flagpole. It would also have a serving window and patrons would eat their sundaes and cones on picnic tables outside.

"If I get approvals for the look, I think it will be more of a landmark on Main Street," Scott Mason said late Monday afternoon.

Kathy, a former home economics teacher at Fairfield Ludlowe High School, talked about rewarding children in summer reading programs and for getting good grades on their report cards with certificates for free ice cream.

"We can have 'Bookworm' with gummy worms in it, " she said of one potential flavor.

Mason's Farm Market sells vegetables, fruit and flowers at the farm stand, and Scott believes adding ice cream would complement his business. He said it would be open from April until October every year.

He plans to move greenhouses to expand parking in the front of his property and wants the traffic light by his driveway to face the farm market to allow traffic to move in and out more easily.

Mason needs the Planning & Zoning Commission's approval of a special exception permit to change the zoning on the parcel with the house from an RC (residential) to a DB1 (Design Business), which would allow a retail use.

David Bjorklund of Spath Bjorklund & Associates Inc. discussed what his client wants to do at the last P&Z meeting on April 14, and commissioners encouraged Mason to bring forward an application.

Mason said he will also need Inland Wetlands Commission approval.

Dairy Farm Roots

Scott Mason grew up in upstate New York, where he worked on a dairy farm. He went on to earn a degree in dairy science from Cornell University in 1982.

He and some school friends later worked together at a greenhouse in Connecticut, before Mason broke off and started his own farm stand on Route 59 in Monroe — when Swanson's Fish Market was on the corner of Route 59 and Hattertown Road.

"I was living in Westport at the time and always thought that would be a great place for a produce stand," Mason recalled.

He sold fruits and vegetables there for 18 years.

Eight years ago, he bought his current property at 764 Main Street where his greenhouses supplied his farm stand. Mason moved the entire operation to the newer site about four years ago.

Beyond Vanilla

Kathy, Mason's wife of five years, has a culinary background, and both attended a short course on making ice cream at Penn State last January.

"It's been in the works a little while," Scott said. "We want to make ice cream right here."

Aside from the traditional chocolate and vanilla, he said, "We're going to do some pretty exotic flavors."

Mason's Farm Market gets its peaches and other fruit from Bell Town Orchards in Glastonbury. Scott said it would be used for their ice cream, along with strawberries from Jones Family Farms in Shelton.

Scott and Kathy would also bake brownies for the ice cream themselves.

The Masons already have the ice cream making equipment and a few freezers needed to get going this summer, though Scott said it will probably be too late to open shop this year.

"We don't want to rush it," he said. "We want to make it a top notch, family friendly ice cream shop. I'm excited about it."

"I think it's gonna be a hit," Kathy said. "I think it's gonna be a home run."