Rider Pride and….ICE CREAM!

This weekend I had the fantastic opportunity to share in the convergence of all things Saskatchewan and it was fun AND delicious – what could be better than that?  As an American, summer to me is baseball and ice cream but here in Canada, Football is a summertime event.  I love football and while I had to learn the CFL rules (only 3 downs??) I have become a Rider’s fan.  While it’s unlikely that you’ll catch me wearing watermelon on my head, I do jump up and yell and I’m in the market for a bright green jersey.  You have to root for the home team, right?  So when home teams join forces to create Rider Pride ice cream made right here in Saskatchewan from the finest ingredients, sold at a local favourite like Italian Star Deli and chosen as the preferred premium ice cream by the Roughriders football organization you know I’m all over that – and you should be too.
 Rider Pride ice cream
Here’s why.  Rider Pride ice cream was born of a fabulous idea from Jerry and Elyse Kristian, owners of Jerry’s Food Emporium in Saskatoon (and yes, I wish they would open one here in Regina, too!).  They used the social media platform, Facebook, the way it should be used – they engaged our community to come up with a flavour and name that would show our province’s pride in our own beloved Roughriders for their 100th birthday.  From all the entries, they chose two favourites and test drove them at Jerry’s for a year with the result being the delicious mint and chocolate cookie version that is now called Rider Pride, and of course, it’s green.  Jerry and Elyse are also smart business people.  They approached the Rider’s organization to let them know what they were up to when they embarked on this venture.  They took their time over the course of a year and got the Rider Pride just right so the Roughriders organization couldn’t help but sit up and take notice.  And take notice they did, by a unique endorsement of Riders Pride ice cream they catapulted the brand into the collective attention of the whole province.
Carlo Giambattista, Elyse Kristian and of course, Gainer!
What makes Jerry’s Riders Pride even more of interest to this City Sleuth is the fact that they created a local partnership here in Regina with our very own Italian Star Deli.  You remember Carlo from the first episode of City Sleuth on Access7 TV, right?  He is the owner of Italian Star Deli, a local original that has been a purveyor of all foods wonderful for 45 years! Well now Carlo is the exclusive distributor of Jerry’s ice cream here in Regina.  Jerry even got together with Carlo and Gina to create a gelato flavour just for Italian Star Deli called Gina’s Bacio! Bacio in Italian means “kiss” and believe me, this gelato flavour is so smooth and rich you’ll swear you’ve been kissed!
Gina Giambattista of Italian Star Deli
So of course, I am going to be a regular customer of Rider Pride ice cream since it combines all my favourite things; local ingredients, locally handcrafted food, a local vendor and the home team – what could be more Saskatchewan than that?  So head on over to Italian Star, try the Rider Pride or one of Jerry’s other scrumptious flavours and give a shout out to Carlo who always has a warm smile and a cheery ciao for all of his customers!  Tell him that City Sleuth sent you!