Which shops won the 2023 Erie Times-News Ice Cream Challenge?

If you scream for ice cream, then warm up your vocal chords. Today ends the 2023 summer Ice Cream Challenge with impressive wins for some and a couple of dark horses here and there.

What we're most excited about is how many of you took the time to participate in the polls ― and doing all that research beforehand!

We had a nominating round in July, which led to a a round of seeded voting in August for the semi-finals, pitting four top seeds over eight categories of ice cream treats. Voting in the final round ended Tuesday, and throughout the contest readers placed 687 votes nominating and supporting 19 ice cream shops along the way.

More: You say you scream for ice cream? Then you'll love this long list of Erie-area stands

At least among voters, the most popular ice cream shop in the region seems to be Straw Hat, 207 South Lake St., North East, which won five of the categories with a total of 375 votes (over eight categories) in the final round. Honorable mention goes to Whippy Dip, which was second in total votes cast in the final round with 273 (over eight categories).

We hope you had as much fun as we did playing along with our ice cream challenge this summer. We're kicking around the idea of posting other challenges, so if you liked this one, let us know what type of restaurants you'd like to see go head-to-head. Burgers? Pizza? Places with gorgeous views? Nepali/Bhutanese? You tell us what you're most interested in and we'll take it from there. Until then, kudos to the winners and the voters alike. You may now scream.

More: Ice Cream Challenge semi-final round results are in. Final-round voting ends on Labor Day

Contact Jennie Geisler at jgeisler@timesnews.com or at 814-870-1885. 

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Heavy favorites, dark horses stepped up in Erie's Ice Cream Challenge