I scream, you scream, we all scream for … today. Today is National Ice Cream Day!

No, this is not one of those completely made up holidays created by someone aiming to get a laugh. It’s official.

President Ronald Reagan officially declared July as National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday of July as National Ice Cream Day.

Reagan asked the people of the United States to observe the events with “appropriate ceremonies and activities,” the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), reports.

In 2017, about 1.4 billion gallons of ice cream and related frozen desserts were produced in the United States. Ice cream is an $11 billion industry that supports 26,000 direct jobs and generates $1.6 billion in direct wages, according to IDFA’s Dairy Delivers®. The majority of U.S. ice cream and frozen dessert manufacturers have been in business for more than 50 years, and many are still family-owned businesses.

IDFA partners with Research America to study U.S. ice cream data and trends on an on-going basis. New data is now being released to recognize National Ice Cream Month.

• Most ice cream is made March through July. July is the busiest production month for ice cream makers.
• Nearly two-thirds of Americans rank vanilla as their favorite ice cream flavor.
• Candy or chocolate pieces are the most popular confection, followed by cookies, brownies and cake.
• Two-fifths of ice cream makers are seeing an increased demand for premium ice cream versus 17 percent seeing an increase in gelato demand followed by 15 percent for sorbet. Demand for low-fat or non-fat ice cream ranked the lowest at just 4 percent.
• Almost half of survey respondents have been making ice cream for more than 50 years.

So enjoy the day today and consider joining in on the ice cream day fun.