HOLDREGE, Neb. — Scott Rager's creative passions have found a tasty outlet — in homemade ice cream concoctions.
The Holdrege native recently returned after 12 years in Los Angeles, where he had worked as an interior designer, an event planner and a caterer.
He is now bringing that creative passion to central Nebraska, with his homemade County Seat ice cream.
Rager, 34, began making artisan ice cream in California. While he was catering an engagement party, the client asked for a unique gift her guests could take home. Rager suggested homemade ice cream, because of his childhood memories of the sweet treat.
To give the gifts a personal touch, he created special labels, and each guest went home with a pint of coffee ice cream with homemade brownie chunks. They raved about it, which led to more orders.
When he moved back to Holdrege in February to help his mom, Beth Rager, with her carpet cleaning company, he was looking for a creative outlet.
"When I first moved back and thought about taking what I did in L.A., lifestyle design, and applying it to south-central Nebraska, I thought making homemade artisan ice cream would be a great initial venture," he said.
He created a logo, County Seat — with nods to Holdrege and the Great Plains' sense of identification with towns — and decided to introduce his ice cream flavors to the crowd at Holdrege's Swedish Days Street Festival in June.
"I think the most surprising thing is that people are so excited about it," Rager said. "But that is the special thing about small towns: People are so supportive."
At Swedish Days, he sold 8-ounce containers of Valkommen Vanilla, Tre Kronor Chocolate, Phelps Sweet Corn, Holdrege Honey and Vanilla, Coffee Toffee and Sea Salt Caramel.
When he quickly sold out there and again at Bertrand Days later that month, Rager realized there was a demand for flavors not often found in grocery stores. He also had a great response when he sold ice cream at the Festival of Cupcakes in Funk a few weeks ago.
"I think people liked the fact that I make something they can't find at the grocery store in town," he said, "and they also love the use of fresh, local ingredients. Sweet corn ice cream appeals to people around here because it almost defines who we are as Nebraskans."
Rager steers clear of preservatives and artificial flavors and uses locally grown ingredients.
Because he makes the ice cream four pints at a time, he can experiment with flavors, such as olive oil or lemon verbena, or create one if requested.
"People like to be adventurous with ice cream," he said. "I love making ice cream because cooking has always been a way for me to show my love for my family and friends. I truly believe food tastes different when it is cooked from the heart."
On average he gets six to 10 orders per day.
Recently he created a signature ice cream for Trattoria Flippin' Sweet, a restaurant in Holdrege. Customers have welcomed the maple bourbon ice cream with bacon pralines, which complements the restaurant's fresh Italian flavors.
Because Rager works with his mom's company during the day, it's not uncommon for him to be awake until early morning before big events, all six of his electric ice cream makers churning away.
Now he is branching out. People have been asking Rager to create flower arrangements. He hopes to make County Seat an umbrella under which he can showcase his design projects.
"The whole idea is to take what I did in L.A. and apply it to the sensibility of the Great Plains," he said.
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