Fairhaven Homemade Ice Cream Shop a Lifelong Dream Come True

FAIRHAVEN (WBSM) — Since word got out a few months ago that McGraw’s Back Porch Ice Cream was going to open soon in Fairhaven’s Lifestyles Plaza, local ice cream lovers couldn’t wait to sample some of their delicious homemade recipes.

Originally set to open earlier this year, there were some delays that pushed things back for months, but owners and operators Matt and Sharon McGraw are finally ready for their soft opening today.

But if you thought you had to wait a long time for MBPIC to open, imagine how the McGraws feel; they’ve been trying to open this ice cream shop for the past 30 years.

Who Are the McGraws in McGraw’s Back Porch Ice Cream?

Matt is a retired Mattapoisett Police officer, and Sharon works in the facilities department at a local private school.

Matt has been making ice cream pretty much his whole life; his mother says he started at age 11, but he says he was 15. Either way, it’s always been a family thing, and he said he’s been perfecting the recipe for the past 35 years or so.

He makes batches of ice cream and then hands it out to friends and family, and everyone always told them they should have their own ice cream shop. It’s something the couple thought about for decades; they even knew what they’d name it. In fact, Matt has had “MBPIC” as the license plate on his vehicles – now on his 1924 Model T seen at local parades – for over 20 years.

That’s right, he had the vanity plate with the name of his business on it long before he even had the business. That’s how long the McGraws have been planning this dream.

“Back in the early 2000s, we went to an ice cream school, which is a seminar from a company that makes commercial ice cream makers. It was a four-day seminar, and we learned the business side of it,” Matt said. “I took what I had learned and implemented it into what I was doing, but I was still just making it at home, giving it out for free.”

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When he retired from the police department three years ago, he thought it was finally time to give it a go. He started looking for a location, and settled on one he’d first thought about as a potential spot way back in 2006: Lifestyles Plaza.

“We always had that in mind, but I wasn't looking for a big place like this,” he said. “It just so happened my friend saw the sign that said this space was for rent.”

The McGraws signed the lease on April 15 and have been working to get it ready ever since. They wanted to open for this past summer, but things didn’t work out that way.

“We knew we wanted to be open year-round, so we were alright with it,” Matt said, noting that now they’ll have time to get their feet wet and build toward a busy summer season in 2025.

They said friends and family can hardly believe that the couple’s dream is finally becoming a reality.

“They can’t believe it because we’ve just talked about it for years. They can’t believe it’s really happening, so it’s kind of surreal for them too,” Matt said, noting that their electrician, a longtime friend for 30 years, said he was going to laugh when they finally opened.

“I said, ‘Why are you going to laugh?’ He said, ‘Because you finally did it. You’ve been talking about it for 30 years,’” Matt said. “It’s just one of those things where they’re just happy that we finally made it happen.”

What Are the Hours at McGraw’s Back Porch Ice Cream?

Currently, the plan is to be open Thursdays through Sundays from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. It will be the McGraws doing most of the work, with a few high school hires to help out. Then as things get busier, they’ll bring on more local kids so that Matt can focus on making the ice cream.

What Is on the Menu at McGraw’s Back Porch Ice Cream?

The McGraws do one thing and they do it very well: ice cream. They’re not looking to offer food, or candy, or other things that people have suggested. It’s just Matt’s homemade ice cream.

“I buy a commercial base that’s already got your milk, cream, sugar and stabilizers in it,” he said. “I just use their white base. They offer a chocolate base, but I don’t use it because I like to make my own chocolate.”

He said he will then mix in his own flavorings and inclusions that would go into the different flavors, with each batch taking about two or three days to be ready to serve.

“We’re set up to offer 10 regular flavors, kind of the standard flavors,” Matt said. “And we’re going to offer six that are on a rotating basis.”

“We’ll post on social media each time the flavors change,” Sharon said.

However, the McGraws don’t expect to get too out there with them.

“I know there’s a trend out there for some really crazy flavors, but I myself am more of a purist,” Matt said, noting his favorite flavor is vanilla. “If you have a good vanilla, everything else just flows off of that.”

They also plan to have frappes, sorbert, sherbets and other non-dairy items. For now, everything will be Matt’s homemade hard serve ice cream but they may add a soft serve machine in the future.

One unique thing they'll offer is an ice cream sampler that will allow you to select up to six different flavors.

"Every restaurant around seems to offer some kind of flight, so this is like an ice cream flight," Sharon said.

Why Back Porch Ice Cream?

It all goes back to Matt’s parents’ house, where everyone would gather on the back porch. They’d pass some of the homemade ice cream the family would make through the window to the people on the porch; there’s a photo of that happening in the front window of the ice cream shop.

“We always said we’ll call it McGraw’s Back Porch Ice Cream,” Sharon said. “That’s how the whole thing developed. So we just stuck with it, and said ‘Wouldn't it be nice to have a little back porch setting?’”

The decor of the shop makes it look and feel like a back porch, including some antique rug beaters hanging on the walls along with other vintage touches such as an old Coca-Cola machine Matt purchased back around 1990.

Matt’s mother also had a “ceiling full of baskets” at the house, Sharon said, so they took some of them (“with her permission,” Sharon noted) and those are now hanging up inside MBPIC.

One even came from Sharon's own mom.

It all just adds to the home-like feel of McGraw's Back Porch Ice Cream.

“It's the experience. That's what we're trying to get here,” Matt said. “It's a location to go to. We wanted to make it a destination.”

It’s Finally Time to Scoop the Ice Cream

As first-time food service business owners, the McGraws hope they’ve thought of everything ahead of today’s opening.

“My biggest concern is being able to handle the people coming in because you just don't know. They could trickle in or we could get swamped,” Matt said. “And my biggest fear is running out, because people expect to have something when they come in.”

The McGraws were originally thinking they might wait until around Thanksgiving to open, but excitement in the community had been building up as they got closer to completing the space.

“We’re not going to be able to wait. People are just going to show up,” Sharon said. “We’re going to see people we haven’t seen in years.”