Cream returns to Hill City

The story of Cream essentially started by finding an ice cream machine for sale.
Stephanie Weyer was a nurse for 30 years and her husband, Greg, worked as a finish contractor. After years of hard work, Stephanie said the two wanted to do something different.
One day, Greg was looking at machines online and came across one for making ice cream. The idea sounded like something they both would enjoy so he and Stephanie went to an ice cream convention. At the convention, there was a lady who wanted to sell her machine, and by happenstance Greg and Stephanie ended up sitting next to her. It was a perfect coincidence.
“We drove to Iowa in the middle of winter and picked up our machine,” said Stephanie. “And the rest is history.”
At that time, Stephanie’s only prior experience was her own cooking and love of desserts and ice cream. However, she said she loves to create things and is a good cook.
Cream originally opened before COVID-19 at a location near The Farmer’s Daughter. With this layout they had coffee as well as ice cream. That is where the name Cream originated since cream is great in coffee and foundational to ice cream. After that, their slogan quickly became, “Cream always rises to the top.”
At first, they were not sure how things would go, but they were soon thrilled by the response from the community. However, when COVID-19 hit, they decided to close down until things blew over.
In April 2022 Stephanie and Greg moved Cream into a space across from the Exxon station. After that they began organizing the interior, setting up machines and ordering some new supplies so they could make even more ice cream flavors faster. Nevertheless, it was when they put up their ice cream lady out front and a large ice cream cone in the window that the public started getting excited about the return of Cream.
On May 30 Cream officially reopened its doors to the community of Hill City. This family owned and operated business is run by Stephanie and Greg with the help of their granddaughter and her friend.
Stephanie is most excited to interact with the people who stop by, whether they are tourists or locals. Already she has been able to reconnect with some regular customers from the first time.
“I’m very much about community and my people,” said Stephanie, “but we do make really good ice cream.”
All told, Cream has made around 50 different flavors from original recipes. Although they rotate through flavors, they try to avoid running out of more traditional ones so customers can get their favorite flavor when they come in. Each flavor also has a fun name, often consisting of a pun. Their newest flavor is Gum Chowder, which is a bubble gum ice cream with bubble gum bits in it. There are also dairy and gluten free options available.
Serving as their signature flavor is Black Hills Gold. This was inspired by an ice cream shop in Rapid City. Stephanie fell in love with their Black Hills Gold flavor and decided to create her own version. A lot of time went into experimenting to perfect the flavor, but today this salted caramel ice cream with praline pecans, cashews and butter finger is declared “delicious.”
Everything served at the shop is made there. If there is cookie dough ice cream, the dough was prepared on site. If there is buttermilk cupcake ice cream, the cupcakes were homemade too. Even their caramel, hot fudge, ice cream sandwich cookies and waffle cones are handcrafted.
Meanwhile, Stephanie and Greg’s suppliers use all natural flavors and colors. Purple carrots are used to color lavender tinted ice cream and beet juice is used to get bright pink ice cream. In addition, all fruit flavors are derived from fresh fruit.
“Our strawberry ice cream tastes like strawberries,” said Stephanie. “It doesn’t taste like a strawberry Starburst.”
So while ice cream is still a treat, Cream is seeking to make it a little healthier.
“We care about what we eat,” Stephanie said. “We use the best ingredients we can possibly find.”
In addition, Cream offers a fun family environment for customers to enjoy. Greg built large picnic tables with umbrellas out front so people can gather  and enjoy their ice cream. The tops of the picnic tables are even painted bright pink like strawberry ice cream dripping down.
In front of the shop there are buckets of chalk so kids can draw on the sidewalk while their parents talk. Finally, to tie everything together there are fun Cream sayings burned into the wood. One outside says, “Living the Cream.”
“Ice cream should be fun,” Stephanie says, and they want people to have fun too.
When customers come in Stephanie wants them to feel like the Cream team knows who they are and what they like. When customers leave, she wants them to remember that the people were friendly and the ice cream was fantastic.
“We want to serve the community, and do things special for the community,” Stephanie said.
Cream is open Monday to Saturday from noon to 7 p.m. and will be open year round. In the future there are plans to add some indoor seating as well as a selection of baked goods.
Thus far, “Hill City has been very welcoming,” said Stephanie. “It’s good to be back.”