Ice cream giveaway helps family celebrate birthday

Franklin — When you think of celebrating a birthday, two thoughts follow: cake and of course, ice cream. So, it’s only natural that on Sunday, Aug. 2, when Roberts Dairy Twist celebrates its first anniversary here there will be plenty of ice cream to go around. In fact, the Roberts family plans to give away free hard ice cream cones from 2 to 5 p.m. that day. They’ll have two bands on site and expect a festive atmosphere. Tim Roberts and his parents Isabel and Fred Roberts run the shop. Ice cream has been a family business for many years. They had run Milford Dairy in Milford, Pa., for six years before losing their lease last year. While the Roberts hunted around for another suitable location in Milford, they also opened their Franklin shop on Route 23 and decided to focus on the single shop, Tim Roberts said. But that’s not where the ice cream connection began. “My father grew up in Butler, N.J., and his family and owned an ice cream shop called the Milk Barn,” Tim said. “It was a huge place and it was the place to hang out.” Fred Roberts worked at the family shop throughout high school and fond memories of those days sustained him, Tim said. That’s why he got back into the family business several years ago. How many flavors? Roberts sells 24 flavors of hard ice cream and also 24 flavors of soft ice cream, plus a dozen flavors of Italian ice and 24 flavors of soft fat free yogurt. They make their own waffle cones and waffle bowls. Soft serve is the most popular item on the menu, and customers love the opportunity to mix any two soft serve flavors, like strawberry and banana cheese cake, for example, Tim Roberts said. Mint chocolate chip is the number-one hard ice cream flavor. His personal favorite is soft serve mint.