The Mount Rainier Creamery & Market is open along SR 410. They have ice cream nachos.
Buckley residents and visitors will soon have a drive-thru market featuring products from local farms and businesses.
The Mount Rainier Creamery & Market at 287 state Route 410 is expected to have locally sourced milk, eggs, fruits and other produce come late September. In the meantime, the market has coffee and soft-serve ice cream.
Ice cream nachos are one of the market’s most popular items. The treat comes with waffle chips, soft-serve, caramel dip, chocolate drizzle and sprinkles. It costs $8. The market also sells floats, Italian cream sodas and “smoothshakes.”
Owner Haylee Mensonides said a smoothshake happens when a smoothie and milkshake have a baby. The drink costs $6.50, and it comes in flavors such as pina colada, lemon cake, strawberry chocolate, vanilla and espresso.
The shop is open from noon to 6 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Owner Ryan Mensonides said the market used to be a gas station. He and his wife bought it about four years ago. He said before they can begin selling produce, they have to finish building a creamery on their dairy farm down the road from the market.
The soft-serve they currently offer is from Edaleen Dairy in Lynden. Ryan Mensonides said the plan is to offer soft-serve and other dairy products from their farm by late September.
“Our products will be from cow to the consumer in less than 48 hours,” Ryan Mensonides said.
Ryan Mensonides is a fifth-generation dairy farmer. His dad helped run Faith Dairy, which operated at 3509 72nd St. E. in Tacoma for nearly 30 years.
The number of local dairy farms has dwindled over the years, Ryan Mensonides said. When he and his wife started their dairy farm in 2012, there were about 20 dairy farms on the plateau. Now there are only seven, he said.
“We want to support those other local farmers that are making quality products in our backyard,” Haylee Mensonides said.
This story was originally published August 4, 2024 at 10:00 AM.
