Who doesn’t like ice cream pies? After all, they combine two things that most people really love: pies and ice cream. It’s a frozen dessert that can be used for just about any occasion, from birthday parties to the Fourth of July. That’s probably why it has earned its own holiday—a holiday that’s celebrated on August 18th and is known as National Ice Cream Pie Day. It’s a holiday that gives people just one more excuse to buy themselves an ice cream pie and either enjoy it alone or with friends and family.

The History Of Ice Cream Pie

Despite our best efforts, we were unable to uncover either the history of National Ice Cream Pie Day or the creation of the ice cream pie itself. Those two things seem to have been lost to history. With that being said, however, we have come up with what many people consider to be the first instances of people putting ice cream on their pies—or sort of. The origins of serving pie à la mode seem to be something that’s surrounded by quite a few legends. We’ll go through these legends, however, and allow our readers to come up with their own decision on which origin story seems the most likely.

According to the first story, Pie à la Mode was first invented in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1885. According to that story, it was invented by a Superior Street restaurant. This restaurant apparently served a slice of blueberry pie with a scoop of ice cream. There’s another story that places the invention of Pie à la Mode at Delmonico’s Restaurant in New York when it was asked for by Charles Watson Townsend. In that story, a neighboring diner asked him what a pie with ice cream on it was called, and he casually stated that it was called Pie à la Mode.

There is, however, another story that places the creation of Pie à la Mode at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. According to that story, it was then named Pie à la Mode by the French as a way to describe it as a modern or fashionable form of pie. Regardless of which story you choose to believe, it’s probably a safe bet that Pie à la Mode was invented sometime during the late 19th century. Unfortunately, despite our digging, we were unable to uncover when people started making ice cream pies.

Observing National Ice Cream Pie Day

National Ice Cream Pie Day is a holiday that’s best shared with friends and family. On this day, you should either make your own ice cream pie or purchase one from an ice cream shop that sells them. Once you have procured your ice cream pie and are enjoying it, you can then use the hashtag #NationalIceCreamPieDay on your social media accounts to let people know that you’re celebrating this holiday.