Scoop Palm Springs Ice Cream Festival Returns This Sunday
If you’re in Palm Springs and you love ice cream, you’ll want to be at Downtown Park (across from the museum) this Sunday, November 1. Scoop Palm Springs is back for its second year with more than 20 ice cream, gelato and paleta makers, more than 50 flavors, and ten 2-ounce tastings included with every $35 ticket. It runs from noon to 4 p.m.
Who’s Scooping at Scoop Palm Springs
Some of my personal favorites are on the lineup, and they’re shops I visit often: Kreem, Brandini, Carmela, Gelato Granucci, Sottovoce and Gelato-A-Go-Go. Together they represent some of my favorite spots for ice cream and gelato around Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley.
Also attending: Aerostat Creamery, Ben & Jerry’s Palm Springs, Con Amor, Nina y Leon, Handel’s Coachella Valley, 1/2sies Co, Ice Cream & Shop(pe), Idyllwild Ice Cream, I Scream, La Dolce Piccola, La Michoacana Cathedral City, Mucho Churro Mucho Cafe, Mz. Freeze, Nieves El Poblano, and Shake Shack.
New this year is a Best Flavor of the Year contest. Each maker enters one flavor, and judges taste the entries live during the festival before a winner is named. The panel is Luna Barrios, executive pastry chef at Grand Hyatt Indian Wells, and Juan Morales, executive chef at Agua Caliente Rancho Mirage, along with Palm Springs personalities Deven Green and Handsome Ned, who share one vote. David Cox and David Witzke of Dining with the Davids host.
The Scoop Collective Ticket
The Scoop Collective is a limited $70 ticket that includes general admission plus two collaborations made specifically for the festival.
Con Amor, Nina y Leon and I Scream have teamed up on an ice cream sandwich, and Sottovoce Cafe and Gelato Granucci are making mini affogatos.
Collective ticket holders also get a custom-engraved ice cream scooper from Signed by Alex, a mini bouquet from Flor Del Mar, a Scoop tote, temporary tattoos, color-changing spoons from Yelp Coachella Valley, and access to a shaded lounge with standing tables.
About Scoop, From San Diego to Palm Springs
Scoop started in San Diego in 2019, founded by Daniel Szpak, who co-founded Hammond’s Gourmet Ice Cream in San Diego’s North Park neighborhood in 2014 and later sold his share. The festival bills itself as Southern California’s original ice cream festival.
It runs as a nonprofit that benefits a different local charity each year, and Palm Springs is the newer chapter of the event. The festival brings together established ice cream makers, neighborhood scoop shops, gelato specialists and specialty dessert businesses from across Southern California. San Diego’s next festival is June 27, 2027.
Parking and Details for Scoop Palm Springs
The festival is at Downtown Park and Museum Way, next to the Forever Marilyn statue in downtown Palm Springs. The parking garage beside the park offers the first four hours free. Enter from North Museum Drive, across from the Palm Springs Art Museum.
Also on the day: DJ ModGirl, a kids zone run by Palm Springs Parks & Recreation, a photo booth, a Hollandia Dairy sampling station (the festival is powered by Hollandia Dairy), and a Blue Zones Project bike where guests pedal to blend their own shake.
One hundred percent of net proceeds benefit The LGBTQ Center’s Community Food Bank, which provides free food to hundreds of local families each week. Last year’s first Palm Springs festival raised $21,000 and collected more than 300 pounds of food, and guests are encouraged to bring non-perishable items again.
Whether you’re loyal to a favorite local ice cream shop or simply looking for an excuse to spend an afternoon sampling flavors in downtown Palm Springs, Scoop offers one of the sweetest food events on the local calendar.
Tickets are available on Eventbrite.
