Lapping up the first and best of summer

ROSS GIBLIN/The Dominion Post

Beach treat: Grace Vintiner enjoys her orange choc-chip icecream a modern classic in Oriental Bay.

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Icecream and Wellington – two things you can't beat on a good day. Grace Vintiner, 3, polished off a generous scoop of cold, orange choc-chip goodness yesterday in Oriental Pde, where icecreams were only a dollar a pop.

Tip Top's $1 Scoop Day, an annual event celebrating the start of summer at Labour Weekend, went down a treat in Wellington.

Oriental Parade Store shopkeeper Jiten Patel said the day had been a success, but would have been busier without the chilly wind.

Despite the new flavours that icecream companies brought out every year, hokey pokey remained the clear favourite.

"People try different things but they always come back to hokey pokey – it's a classic."

Mr Patel has been serving cones in Oriental Pde for more than 20 years.

Grace was tuckered out by yesterday afternoon and took an afternoon siesta, but dad Miles said she had made short work of her icy treat.

"As soon as she knew we were going to Oriental Pde it was `ice cream, ice cream'. Orange choc-chip is definitely her favourite, and in fact her mother's favourite as well."

Kiwis licked 17.1 million scoops of Tip Top icecream in cones from dairies and food stores last year.

The Oriental Bay Store is one of 15 "high-roller" outlets nationwide that sell more than a million scoops between them each year.

- © Fairfax NZ News