As part of the month-long celebration of National Ice Cream Month, representatives of the ice cream industry joined IDFA president and CEO Connie Tipton for the NASDAQ Stock Market closing bell ceremony on Thursday, July 23, which marks the end of trading on NASDAQ for the day.

In her remarks just prior to ringing the bell, Tipton said that when President Ronald Reagan proclaimed July National Ice Cream month in 1984, he knew ice cream was more than a treat. 

"The U.S. ice cream industry generates more than $21 billion in annual sales and provides jobs for thousands of people," she said. "Two hundred years ago, ice cream was a rare and exotic dessert; today, Americans eat almost 21 quarts each a year."

The closing ceremony took place in the NASDAQ studio in Times Square and was broadcast live to networks including CNBC, CNBC Asia, CNBC India, itsaboutfinance.com, Fox Business Network, BNN, Bloomberg and Bloomberg Brazil. The seven-story NASDAQ Tower, which is the largest stationary video screen in the world, displayed images of people enjoying ice cream and frozen desserts before showing the closing ceremony. The logo for the International Ice Cream Association's "Ice Cream for America" campaign was used on the Tower and during closing ceremony.

NASDAQ OMX group vice president David Wicks hosted the closing bell ceremony and highlighted activities that take place during July.

"National Ice Cream Month encourages ice cream makers, scoop shops and chefs to come up with new and exciting flavors for their customers throughout the month of July," Wicks said.  "Mocha Madness, ¡Hola Fruta!, Raspberry Vanilla Aspen Frozen Granola bar, Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie and lobster-flavored ice cream are a few of the new flavors that ice cream companies have launched this year." 

He added that there's an ice cream or frozen dessert available to meet all nutritional lifestyles, including English Toffee flavored reduced-fat ice cream with probiotics.


A video of the ceremony is A V A I L A B L E HERE.