The Whirla Whip’s the word

You’ve likely heard the old adage, “They don’t make ’em like they used to.” And when it comes to frozen confections, the people of northwestern North Dakota know that sentiment to be true. That’s because the small town of Stanley is home to a nostalgic ice cream treat – one that can only be found at Dakota Drug.

Invented by a Nebraska ice cream shop owner in the 1930s, the Whirla Whip machine whirls ice cream with tasty additives, like fresh fruit and candy. Once a staple at soda fountains across the country, the Whirla Whip is the predecessor of the Dairy Queen Blizzard and the McDonald’s McFlurry.

Ask a local, however, and they’d probably tell you the OG (original) is still the GOAT (greatest of all time).

“Honestly, it’s the best ice cream I’ve ever had. It’s definitely one of a kind,” says Kaydence Vachal, a Dakota Drug employee.

A Whirla Whip starts with a scoop of hard ice cream – an ingredient that sets it apart from its soft-serve descendants.

“Other places start with soft-serve ice cream, and then they blend it up. Now, they’ve overworked that ice cream, and it’s going to melt really fast,” Vachal says.

Customers choose a vanilla, chocolate or rainbow sherbet ice cream base, then add up to three mix-ins. While the formula is simple, the recipes are anything but – with nearly 50 optional add-ins!

“We have a few fan favorites on the menu, like banana cream pie and fried ice cream. Lots of people will choose one of those, because they don't know what to put together,” Vachal says. “Some other popular flavors are chocolate, banana and peanut butter, or chocolate and peanut butter.”

Once selected, the ingredients are placed in a metal cone, which is slid into the Whirla Whip machine, and a drill whirls everything together. The sweet treat is pushed through the cone and placed in the hands of happy customers.
 

A GENERATIONAL ‘SWEET’ TRADITION
For 77 years, soda jerks have been whirling cool creations at Dakota Drug’s soda fountain. Customers of all ages travel by car, bicycle and even rail to get their hands on the sweet treat. With a passenger train stop in Stanley, word of the Whirla Whip travels beyond the local community.

And in the summer months, the Whirla Whip still draws a crowd.

“You come in here in the summertime, and there’s a line out the door,” says Elaine Vachal of Ross. “A lot of them are people who had them as children and want to share that experience with their own kids.”

The love for the nostalgic treat spans generations, and the Vachal family is no exception. Four generations have made memories at the soda fountain’s marble-topped counter.

“It’s crazy to think I actually ended up working here,” Kaydence says. “I used to watch the girls when I was younger, and I always wanted to be making the ice cream. I was an ice cream lover, and I was like, ‘I bet they get free ice cream!’ And I get a free daily. So, I was right!”

While free ice cream doesn’t sound bad, Dakota Drug Store Manager Jennifer Feist knows to proceed with caution.
“When I first started working here, I gained 50 pounds,” she says with a laugh. “I’d watch people order, and I’d think, ‘I need to try that!’”

When Feist, a Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative member, moved to Stanley with her husband, she was searching for a way to connect with her new community. In 2014, she began working at the soda fountain, and her neighbors became friends – one Whirla Whip at a time.

“It feels like home,” Feist says. “People will come in and tell me stories. When you sit down at the soda fountain and have a Whirla Whip, there’s a sense of calm, and you get to enjoy it. And I think that’s worth a drive. It’s worth a train trip.”
 

It’s a trip many people have made, including Whirla Whip inventor Claude Reed. Having seen a story about Dakota Drug on ABC World News Tonight, Reed traveled to Stanley to see his invention still whirling in 1994. In 2000, his daughter returned with her granddaughter – Reed’s great-granddaughter – to enjoy the family treat.
 

A ONE-OF-A-KIND TREAT
Prominently displayed on the soda fountain’s counter, Dakota Drug’s yellow Whirla Whip machine has churned out hard ice cream blends since 1949. And while a Girard, Ill., restaurant also serves the nostalgic treat, Dakota Drug is the only place still making it the way Reed intended: with hard ice cream.

Today, the next generation of soda jerks is busy imagining new Whirla Whip varieties, like the “North Dakota Living,” a blend of vanilla ice cream, hot chocolate, bananas and Nutella, a popular chocolate hazelnut spread. But they haven’t lost sight of the past.

“It’s fun to think that this is what my family used to do. We would come up here all the time. And now, I get to make those memories for the next kids and the next families. It’s awesome,” Kaydence says.

This summer, do yourself a “flavor” and make a trip to Stanley for a genuine Whirla Whip. The ice cream will be waiting for you.

Located at 107 South Main Street in Stanley, Dakota Drug is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The store is owned by Terry and Twana Dick.

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Krista Rausch is a communications specialist for the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives. She can be reached at krausch@ndarec.com.