Legendary North Carolina Ice Cream Store Makes ‘Southern Living’s’ List Of 10 Most Iconic Shops

America loves ice cream. In the South it can get mighty hot and who doesn't love to cool down with a delicious creamy treat? We have a store in Gastonia that everyone has raved about for years. This legendary North Carolina ice cream store made Southern Living's list of the top ten most iconic shops.

Congratulations to Tony's Ice Cream in Gastonia. Southern Living came up with a list of the 10 most iconic ice cream shops in the South. Tony's made the list. Of course it did, it's fantastic.

I was introduced to Tony's Ice Cream by country music star Jimmy Wayne. Whenever Jimmy is in town he always makes a trip to Tony's Ice on East Franklin Boulevard in Gastonia. Jimmy is obsessed with Tony's Ice Cream.

Local folks in Gaston County have been singing the praises of Tony's Ice Cream for years. I am so glad they finally are getting some national recognition.

Here is what Southern Living had to say about Tony's Ice Cream. "Tony’s sells its ice cream to stores and restaurants all over the state of North Carolina, but if you’re in the area, a visit to its location in downtown Gastonia is a must. Since 1915, the shop has been serving its 28 signature flavors of homemade ice cream—that are made in the production facility right next door."

Tony's has so many awesome flavors. Try the chocolate peanut butter ripple, black walnut, almond joy, and banana pudding. You will get hooked on them both. Tony's started years ago with a pushcart. It has been a family business for years. Check out more at tonysicecream.com.

Some of the other places mentioned include Trowbridges in Florence, Alabama, Toomers Drugs in Auburn Alabama, and Leopold's Cream in Savannah, Georgia. Check out the whole list here.

What's North Carolina's favorite junk food? A new poll from Casinos.com has a surprising answer. We’re talking about National Junk Food Day!  They released a state-wide junk food poll on July 21st. Why? Because it's National Junk Food Day! It only happens once a year and it’s a day worth celebrating for sure!  If there was ever a day to leave the salad in the fridge and treat yourself to some fat, sugar, salt, carbs, and calories, this is it. In honor of this food holiday, a new report reveals Americans’ favorite junk foods.

For research purposes, they left out fast food restaurants such as McDonald's, Wendy's and KFC.  Fast food places are worthy of their own nationally celebrated day (National Fast Food Day, November 16). Likewise, they didn't include drinks or sodas, and basically, anything you can consider healthy.

Fast food restaurants were excluded as I said earlier. This study instead refers to snacks available to purchase in stores. Sodas and chewing gum were also excluded.

I was shocked to find out what North Carolina's was. South Carolina too!

This very important data was collected over a 12-month period from July 17, 2022 - July 16, 2023.

In the case where a state had equal levels of interest for multiple snacks, search volumes for each item using "Semrush" were measured in that area to determine a favorite.

My all-time favorite junk food is pretzels. Any kind of pretzels. Rods, sticks, chocolate covered, honey wheat, burnt and hot soft ones! I love me some pretzels! I'm also a sucker for Gold Fish crackers and Peanut M&M's.

LauRen my co-host has her favs too. She said on the air the other day she loves Twizzlers, Pringles and assorted nuts. (BTW I said nuts is not junk food).

Casinos.com analyzed Google Trends and search data for the last year to determine what the most popular junk foods are in each state:

America’s favorite overall junk food in 2023 is … Sour Patch Kids! They’re the favorite in seven states. Arizona, California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan and North Carolina!

Nerds candy are the favorite in Florida, South Carolina and Virginia. I love Nerds. They do leave my mouth watering from the sourness! 

 Kit Kat is the most popular chocolate bar, it’s the favorite in Nevada, New York, Oregon and Washington. That's a great candy! The only bad part is, it melts bad in our summer heat! 

Pringles also did well and were the favorite in four states. Indiana, Montana and Utah. Pringles are only good when on a boat IMO. 

Butterfinger is the top choice in Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee. Not a big fan of butterfinger. Bart Simpson sold a lot of these in 90's with his TV ads though! 

Gummy Bears win in two states: Colorado and Hawaii. Good one! The island of gummies, Gummy Worms are good too! 

Rhode Island is the smallest state but has the biggest hunger for Animal Crackers. They're the favorite in Maine, Missouri, Vermont and West Virginia. I remember I called my vet she said she was eating Animal Crackers. True story!