Is Penn State ice cream the ‘coolest thing’ made in Pennsylvania? Your votes can decide

Is Penn State’s ice cream the best thing made in Pennsylvania? That’s for you to decide.

The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry is back this spring with another rendition of its “Coolest Thing Made in PA” tournament. The bracket-style contest asks Pennsylvanians to vote for their favorite Keystone State products and ultimately help crown a champion and dish out some bragging rights.

Last year’s inaugural “Coolest Thing Made in PA” bracket collected more than 30,000 votes en route to a championship win for Pittsburgh-based Primanti Bros. sandwiches. This time around, the bracket has expanded from 32 to 64 entrants and paved the way for the Penn State Berkey Creamery’s ice cream to enter the fray.

“We are thrilled to have been nominated in the ‘Coolest Thing Made in PA’ contest,” Berkey Creamery sales and marketing manager Jim Brown wrote in a statement. “It is an honor to be selected in the top 64 by the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. Our goal always has been to make the University proud, and this is just another way we hope to serve everyone who has made us what we are today.”

Established in 1865, the Berkey Creamery is recognized as the largest university creamery in the U.S. It is particularly known for its ice cream, which comes in staple flavors like chocolate chip cookie dough and cookies-n-cream to more unique varieties such as Grilled Stickies, Alumni Swirl and Peachy Paterno.

Penn State’s ice cream was popular enough to land on a list of Pennsylvania’s top options in 2023 as part of a summer-long tourism challenge.

Here’s what you need to know if you hope to send Berkey Creamery’s ice cream deep into this year’s bracket.

How to vote for the ‘Coolest Thing Made in PA’

Voting in the “Coolest Thing Made in PA” tournament is simple. According to the contest outline, voting occurs through the Pennsylvania Chambers of Business and Industry’s social media accounts on Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter.

Visit the agency’s social media profiles to vote on its Instagram stories and X polls. Instagram story voting is available only during the last 24 hours of the voting period, according to the contest page.

Votes from both social media platforms are combined into a cumulative total to send the victors to the next round of the bracket.

Here’s a look at the tournament voting schedule:

• First round (64): March 19 to 22

• Second round (32): March 26 to 29

• Third round (16): April 2 to 3

• Fourth round (8): April 4 to 5

• Semi-finals (4): April 8 to 9

• Championship (2): April 10 to 11

Penn State’s beloved ice cream faces off against Lycoming’s aircraft engines in the first round of the bracket. If it wins, the Berkey Creamery’s ice cream will face the winner of Gilson snowboards and Painterland Sisters organic yogurt in the second round.

Plenty of other fan-favorite foods made the cut in this year’s expanded bracket, including Wawa hoagies, Reese’s peanut butter cups, Peeps candies, Utz potato chips, Auntie Anne’s pretzels, Mrs. T’s pierogies and Martin’s potato rolls. Other entrants include Harley Davidson motorcycles, Crayola crayons and the iconic stage from pop superstar Taylor Swift’s Eras global tour.

Visit pachamber.org/coolestthing to learn more about this year’s tournament.