The smell of fresh made gelato fills the Dallas Farmers’ Market as passionate workers create their own twist on the classic treat.

The Gelato Festival, held Sept. 29 through 30, is the largest gelato celebration in the world. Originally, the festival was held in Europe, however, the first American Gelato Festival was held in 2017, and was a major success. For the 2018 celebration, Dallas, Texas was chosen to host the festival.

The Turtle Gelateria, a vendor at the festival and second place winner with the Texas Hill Country Lemon Lavender, is located in Brownwood, Texas.

“I started in the gelato business about ten years ago,” owner of The Turtle Gelateria Mary Stanley said. “We had purchased some property in downtown Brownwood, and we started doing some renovations.”

After opening the gelateria, Stanley made great strides in improving her talents and has since taken her creations to competitions across the state.

“We started with a small machine and then went to a sit down,” Stanley said. “There I learned how many flavors there were and how many different types of equipment there are, but I really improved my skills when I started making more professional gelato and going to competitions.”

For Stanley, creating the flavor was easy. She was inspired to create something new and the rest came naturally, as she gained  more experience in the making of different flavors.

“This summer was really, really hot,” said Stanley. “I had been making lemon for a long time and have been interested in floral fragrances as some of my friends were making lavender. So I decided to add the lavender fragrances to lemon.”

To Stanley, combining the flavors is a careful art.

“Lemon by itself is really tart, like Lemonhead candies, but once you add the lavender, it becomes sweet,” Stanley said. “You don’t notice the lavender because we don’t put too much in or it would be a soapy flavor, like chewing on a soap bar. You have to learn to balance the flavors.”