The ice cream store
The 2026 menu
Cones, sundaes, twisters, dirty sodas, and the Dane Bar. Click to see the full menu and pricing for the current season.
Iowa City · Est. 1960
Iowa City’s best soft serve since 1960.
What started as John Dane selling Holstein milk down the lane is still Iowa City’s summer ice cream store — cones, twisters, and a line of high-school kids who know your order.
This season
Open seasonally, typically March through the first part of November. Closing date is weather dependent.
- Monday – Thursday1:00 pm – 9:00 pm
- Friday1:00 pm – 10:00 pm
- Saturday11:00 am – 10:00 pm
- Sunday11:00 am – 9:00 pm
(319) 354-7400 — call the shop if you’re driving in.
On camera
The shop, the cones, the summer.
Swipe the reels. This is Dane’s right now — soft serve, the ice cream store, and the line on Highway 1.
A local landmark
Sixty-plus summers of the best soft serve ice cream on Highway 1.
Dane’s began because a dairyman wanted a fair price for his milk. The bottled-milk days ended; the ice cream never did. In 2024 the Dane family passed the ice cream store to Joshua Luerkens and Mariah Ritter — people who already knew the farm, the shop, and the regulars.
Limited
What's churning
A rotating lineup of in-house soft serve. Get it this week, before the next batch lands.
Since 1960
From Haldane Farm
John and Allie Dane opened Dane’s to sell milk. Sixty-four years later it’s all about the ice cream — and that proud history still lives here.
Parties
Catering
Sundae bars, cups, Dane Bars, and sandwiches for graduations, reunions, and team nights. Volume pricing built in.
“I am so glad to pass on the torch of Dane’s Dairy to Joshua’s family. Mariah was a former manager and helped us out many times. They have kept Dane’s Dairy products and menu the same. The store is in good hands.”
Grand opening Saturday · Sept 26 · 1 pm
Mini golf at the dairy
Eighteen par 3s behind the shop. Grand opening Saturday, September 26, 2026 at 1 pm. After that the course is open during ice cream store hours, weather dependent, until we close for the season.
See the course