Summer Scoops is officially back at Weber State University.

Every Wednesday from now until Aug. 2 at 2:30 p.m. on the south patio of the Shepherd Union building Weber State students, faculty and staff can get one free scoop of ice cream as long as they bring their Weber State ID card.

Summer Scoops is run by Molly Ward, the director of the Shepherd Union building, and Heather Cimino, the assistant director of student involvement at Weber State. Summer Scoops first started in June of 2021 making this summer the third year for the event.

Ward explains that she started this operation around the time COVID-19 started to die down.

“At the time I felt like we all needed to see each other again. We had all gotten really spread out; people were working remotely,” Ward said.

Summer Scoops was designed to bring people together.

“I still feel like in the summer a lot of the time we feel a lot more isolated. We don’t see each other as often. It’s a good opportunity to get out and connect,” Ward said.

Ward claimed that last summer, Summer Scoops brought roughly 130-140 attendants. This year, they have even more people participating. Despite the crowds, they have never run out of ice cream to give away.

All of the ice cream for Summer Scoops comes from Farr Better Ice Cream, a business that has served ice cream to Ogden for over 100 years.

Each week Ward picks two different flavors of ice cream to bring to Weber State.

“We pick out flavors and try to get a good balance of things that are fruity or chocolatey and things with nuts or without nuts, and we just rotate through them,” Ward said.

The south patio of Shepherd Union is a new location for Summer Scoops. In the previous two years, the ice cream was served near the Stewart Bell Tower Plaza on campus.

Ward explained that they decided to move the location to the south patio because it provided better shade coverage.

“We learned that it could get really hot and there is not a lot of shade, especially for those scooping ice cream. We brought out shading, but I think this is a much better location for us and it gives people the opportunity to sit and hang out,” Ward said.

Ward and Cimino hope to continue doing Summer Scoops in the following summers as it is a great way to bring people together and to get faculty and staff out of their offices.

“People love ice cream, and I am excited to see people coming out and hanging out,” Ward said.