The countdown to summer is on now that temperatures have increased, and Calgarians can look forward to water parks, sun tanning and ice cream.

Ice cream has always been a popular summer snack but a recent retail report by Alberta Agriculture says grocery store sales of ice cream and related dairy and non-dairy products increased by nearly 12 per cent between 2017 and 2018.

Stephanie Budynski, a researcher for the province, explains that larger flavour varieties and single serve portions have increased among consumer trends.

"People still might want to indulge in a dessert product but might not necessarily want to eat too much of it, so we've seen a 45 per cent increase in the zero to 500 ml package sizes between 2017 and 2018," she said.

The report says that consumer demand may also be growing because of the popularity of health conscious and premium products.

But traditional flavours are still popular, according to the report. Vanilla ice cream led dollar and volume sales across the province in 2018.

Alex Kubinski with the Foothills Creamery says they're seeing industry growth in premium products. (Dave Gilson/CBC)

Alex Kubinski with the Foothills Creamery says traditional ice cream sales for his company across Western Canada have remained steady.

"Right now consumers are looking for that local homegrown craft ice cream," he said. "They want something that feels like it was homemade and in-house with care and premium ingredients."

He agrees that smaller container sizes have sparked sales as well as industry growth in premium products like dairy-free ice cream.

"You know 10 years ago people who have been lactose intolerant or have been unfortunate enough to be unable to process dairy, they've never been able to purchase ice cream for obvious reasons," said Kubinski.

"These innovations that are coming in, it's helping the whole industry as a whole because it's now causing everyone to kind of innovate and come with new ideas because consumers know there's a much larger choice."

Alberta Agriculture says traditional flavors are still popular among Albertans. (Dave Gilson/CBC)

For example, Kubinski says Foothills Creamery offers coconut milk frozen treats — making it easier for those with diet restrictions to have something close to ice cream.

"Consumers who previously wanted ice cream now have something that's comparable to that because the flavours and textures of coconut base and soy base are now catching up to what ice cream texture can be," he said.