Living Savannah

Is Savannah the #1 city in the U.S. for . . . ice cream?

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There’s been a lot in the news lately about the latest results from Travel & Leisure’s endless polls of its readers.

If such polls have to exist, I’m glad that Savannah does so consistently well in them.

Aside from driving traffic to Travel & Leisure’s website and getting the magazine mentioned in news publications around the country, the results can prompt some fun discussion and even some soul-searching.

For example, this weighty question: Is Savannah really the #1 city in the country for ice cream?

From Travel & Leisure:

Leopold’s is a classic parlor that dates back to 1919 and makes single-batch flavors such as old-style tutti-frutti and more newfangled options such as Guinness and Japanese cherry blossom. During summer, another hot spot is the famous Sugar Shack on Tybee Island, a longtime family-owned operation with floats, frosties, and classic flavors such as piña colada and banana pudding.

Well that’s two places. There are some other ice cream shops around the region and tons of frozen yogurt, which I guess doesn’t count. We were followed on the list by Providence, Nashville, San Francisco, San Diego and 15 other cities.

Since reopening a number of years ago after many years in hibernation, Leopold’s has been something of a juggernaut. I saw this latest news today via the store’s Tweet embedded here:

T&L’s survey of America’s Favorite Cities Survey 2013 presents just 35 cities for reader feedback. Savannah is obviously on the list, as is Charleston, Atlanta, and most of the largest cities in the country.

But the following cities are not on the list: Charlotte, Jacksonville, Saint Augustine, Detroit, Cincinnati (or any other city in Ohio), Chattanooga, and so forth and so on. Just eyeballing the list, I’d say that Savannah has among the lowest or perhaps the lowest population of the 35.

Congrats to Leopold’s, The Sugar Shack, and everyone else involved in serving ice cream to Savannah’s visitors.