Purity is the backdrop to the quintessentially Ithacan experience. Ask any Ithacan about an ice cream–related experience: their first scoop of ice cream in the summer, their first bite of a waffle cone. The first taste of Purity’s ice cream that one experiences as Ithaca’s heat waves roll through is truly a blissful experience. Be it a milkshake after a grueling concert or a triple scoop of mint chocolate chip after a graduation ceremony, Purity houses a magical quality of being the ideal station to reflect upon memories.
Not only that, Purity serves as an ambitious project. Its ice cream is a paragon of flavor—a testament to creativity and intuition. Its cool interior beckons those who enter to experiment with the dazzling selection of ice-cream flavors. Stemming from its creativity, Purity has continually put forth renovations in order to show its willingness to change with the times. Purity’s tantalizing ice-cream concoctions reign superior over everyone’s tastebuds. Molly Swartwout ’16, although not a fanatical supporter of Purity’s design choice, insists, “its fishy interior decoration does not prevent its ice cream from being delicious.” Clearly, Purity serves as a living and breathing spectacle that, despite cosmetic changes, always remains constant in its delicious beauty.
Purity is not without opponents. Laypeople claim a place known as Sweet Melissa’s to be the better option. Frankly, those who make such rash assertions fail to take into account Purity’s versatility. Sweet Melissa’s might be a good ice-cream store, but it is nowhere near the level of novelty that Purity represents. Sweet Melissa’s is a place of soft serve—emphasis on the soft. For the student who wishes to sit in the blazing heat for a soft-serve cone that will inevitably melt quite fast, Melissa’s is the ideal spot. However, one in search of deep and enjoyable flavors will be turned off by its atmosphere.
Sweet Melissa’s may fill its own niche. This niche, however, is nowhere near the throne from which Purity reigns. Purity will remain an Ithacan classic. Sweet Melissa’s is just the new kid on the block. Purity sticks to its glorious ice cream, but throws in curveballs to create a new atmosphere for future generations of Ithacans to explore. Needless to say, in a world full of mediocre ice cream, Purity remains a force committed to sweet ice cream justice.