Summer in the Northwoods runs on ice cream. After a day on the lake, a hike through the state forest, or just a long afternoon on the cabin porch doing absolutely nothing, the question isn't whether you're getting ice cream. It's where.
The Northwoods has an unreasonable number of good ice cream shops, custard stands, and fudge counters for a region with a year-round population smaller than most Milwaukee suburbs. Some of them have been here for decades. Some are newer. All of them understand the assignment: cold, sweet, generous portions, and a line out the door on a July evening means you're in the right place.
Here's the summer treat trail, town by town.
Minocqua
The Island Dairy Bar on the Minocqua island is the first ice cream stop most visitors encounter, and it holds up to the traffic. The soft serve is good — consistent, creamy, and available in a long list of flavors and dipped cone coatings. But the real move is a sundae at one of the picnic tables overlooking the lake. Vanilla soft serve, hot fudge, whipped cream, and a view of the water. Open seasonally, roughly Memorial Day through Labor Day, and there's almost always a line in the evening. Accept it. It moves fast.
Dan's Minocqua Fudge is on the main drag near the bridge to the island. They make fudge in-house in copper kettles — you can watch through the window — and the selection rotates but always includes the standards: chocolate, peanut butter, maple walnut, turtle. A quarter-pound slab is the standard purchase, but if you're buying gifts or stocking the cabin, the half-pound is a better value. They also do caramel corn and hand-dipped chocolates.
Bosacki's Boat House on Lake Minocqua serves hand-scooped ice cream alongside their restaurant menu. It's not primarily an ice cream shop, but the scoops are generous and you can eat them on the deck overlooking the marina. Cedar Crest ice cream — a Wisconsin brand based in Manitowoc — which is a step above the national brands.
Eagle River
Leif's Cafe on Wall Street serves Cedar Crest ice cream in generous scoops. The shop itself is a breakfast and lunch spot, but the ice cream counter operates through the afternoon and evening in summer. Good flavor selection, waffle cones made in-house, and a front porch where you can sit and watch Eagle River's main street do its thing. Try the Blue Moon — it's a Wisconsin-specific flavor (bright blue, almond-vanilla-citrus, tastes like nothing else) and if you haven't had it, you should.
Eagle River Roasters is a coffee shop first, but they do espresso floats that combine their house-roasted coffee with ice cream. The combination of a strong espresso shot and a scoop of vanilla over ice is one of the better afternoon pickups in the Northwoods. Not a traditional ice cream stop, but worth mentioning.
Soda Pop's on Highway 45 is a candy store and soda shop that also serves ice cream floats and malts. The store is stocked with every retro candy you remember and dozens you've never seen. It's the kind of place that takes 15 minutes to browse and 30 minutes if you have kids with you. The root beer float is made with actual root beer from a glass bottle.
Boulder Junction
The Guide's Inn in Boulder Junction is primarily a restaurant, but they serve homemade desserts that compete with any dedicated ice cream shop. The pies — especially the berry pies in summer when the blueberries and raspberries are local — are outstanding. A slice of warm blueberry pie with a scoop of ice cream on a July evening is one of the better desserts you'll have in the Northwoods.
Boulder Junction Community Store (the local grocery) keeps a freezer stocked with Cedar Crest pints and half-gallons if you want to bring a supply back to the cabin. Not glamorous, but practical. Blue Moon, Butter Pecan, and Moose Tracks are the reliable choices.
St. Germain
The Clearview Supper Club in St. Germain includes Grasshoppers and Pink Squirrels on the dessert menu — the blended ice cream cocktails that are a Wisconsin supper club tradition. A Grasshopper is creme de menthe, creme de cacao, and vanilla ice cream blended until smooth. It tastes like a mint chocolate chip milkshake with a purpose. If you haven't had one, a supper club dessert drink counts as an ice cream stop. We're counting it.
Gooch's A2Z Wildlife Museum Cafe in St. Germain is mainly a taxidermy museum (a large one), but the attached cafe serves soft serve and sundaes that hit the spot after an hour of looking at mounted animals. The experience is uniquely Northwoods.
Rhinelander
Sweet Delights in downtown Rhinelander is a bakery and candy shop that does hand-dipped ice cream alongside their pastries and chocolates. The shop is on Brown Street in the walkable downtown area. The homemade waffle cones are a draw, and the chocolate selection — truffles, turtles, bark — makes it a good stop if you want ice cream and a box of candy for the cabin.
The Rhinelander Cafe & Pub does a solid dessert menu that includes ice cream sundaes. It's a restaurant stop rather than a dedicated parlor, but the kitchen takes dessert seriously and the portions are honest.
Three Lakes
Three Lakes Winery technically falls into the drinks category, but they make a cranberry wine slushie in summer that occupies the same part of your brain as a frozen treat. Sweet, cold, fruity, and available to sample before you commit. The winery is on Highway 45 and is open daily in summer.
The Fudge Factor
Fudge shops are a Northwoods tradition that predates the ice cream boom. Nearly every tourist town has at least one, and the quality ranges from factory-produced to genuinely handcrafted.
Dan's Minocqua Fudge (mentioned above) is the standard-bearer. Handmade in copper kettles, good variety, consistent quality.
Tremblay's Sweet Shop in Eagle River is another strong option for fudge and candy. They've been operating for decades and the fudge is made on-site. The peanut butter fudge is the local favorite.
Rocky's Fudge & Gifts in St. Germain rounds out the fudge trail. Smaller shop, limited selection, but the quality is good and it's right on Highway 70 if you're passing through.
The Strategy
If you're spending a week in the Northwoods, here's the move: don't commit to one ice cream shop. Hit a different one each evening. Soft serve one night, hand-scooped the next, a Grasshopper at a supper club on Friday, fudge on Saturday. By the end of the week you'll have a personal ranking and a strong opinion about where to go first next summer.
That's how Northwoods summers are supposed to work. One scoop at a time.
