SKOWHEGAN — Ice cream lovers roused by the taste of spring weather in Maine this week — and those undeterred from indulging during the cold winter months — are in luck.

Gifford’s HomeMaine Ice Cream, the fifth-generation family-owned frozen dairy treat manufacturer, is gearing up to open its three seasonal stands in Bangor, Skowhegan and Waterville.

The company, meanwhile, has been back up and running at full capacity at its Skowhegan manufacturing facility after a February 2023 fire. Investigators ruled the blaze accidental, due to a heat gun left on a pallet of combustible material inside a freezer.

After various delays and a major hit to sales, Gifford’s started making ice cream again at the Hathaway Street factory in early 2024, but Chief Operating Officer JC Gifford said in an interview last week production was temporarily squeezed into tight quarters while construction continued.

In November, the company moved equipment back into the rebuilt original production area, he said. A few minor aspects of the project need to be completed.

“It’s been a long road, and it’s not over yet, but we’re back to at least what we remember space-wise,” Gifford said. 

“It looks a little bit different, obviously, but we’re back to making ice cream the way we want to in the space that we have,” he continued. “It’s much better than being in the shoebox that we were in the temporary section of the building while everything was rebuilt.”

In a news release last week, the company said the upgraded plant is expected to increase production and be more efficient. About 50 people work there, Gifford said, and the company said previously it did not lay off any employees as a result of the fire and the reconstruction.

Gifford’s recently launched three new flavors available in pints at some Hannaford supermarkets and other grocers across New England. Those include a Grape-Nuts cereal flavor dubbed “Cereal and Cream,” a cake batter concoction called “I Scream for Cake,” and white pistachio, the company said in the release.

“With our new production facility fully operational, we’re excited to continue growing,” CEO Lindsay Skilling said in a statement.

The Skowhegan manufacturing facility has started ramping up for the summer: to keep up with high demand from June to August, the company stockpiles products off site February through May, Gifford said.

Gifford’s Bangor stand is the first of the three to open for the season; its first day was March 6. The Waterville stand at 170 Silver St. is set to open March 20. The Skowhegan stand at 307 Madison Ave. follows on April 3.

All locations plan to be open noon-8:30 p.m. daily during the season.

The stands, which in Waterville and Skowhegan also feature miniature golf courses, employ 45 to 50 people, Gifford said.

New this year, the stands are offering home delivery through the DoorDash platform. Delivery hours will be limited to start and might vary by location, the company warned.

Two of Gifford’s other locations have shuttered in recent years. A stand in Farmington closed for good in 2024 following two Sandy River floods in 2023. And shortly after the Skowhegan facility fire, Gifford’s announced it was closing its Auburn location but said it made the decision well before the fire.