Free Cone day, without the cones…or the free.

For years, it has summoned the beginning of Spring. Like bulbs bursting forth from the ground and buds unfurling on the branches, this yearly ritual gives us hope that Spring is on its way.

No, it’s not firing up the grill, opening day at the baseball stadium, or lawn mowers filling the neighborhood air with the smell of cut grass.

It’s Free Cone Day at Diary Queen!

Every year, people gather to snatch up their delectable treat, free of charge. It’s only a vanilla cone, chocolate and swirl included if you’re lucky, but it seems like so much more.

It’s huddling inside the car together, taking licks of our creamy delicacy while bundled up in our warm winter jackets. It’s sitting on the curb on a warmer March day, wiping dripped vanilla off toddler faces. It’s the excitement of the score when they include flavored dips this year. It’s the joy on the faces of my little boy and little girl when they see me approach with my hands full of cones.

It’s a memory. A tradition for us that has meaning and love attached to it. A custom that ushers in Spring for our family.

Last year, like so many other things, our tradition was canceled. But we looked to 2021 for a familiar return to our Spring ice cream ritual. Alas, again, Free Cone Day is not to be.

So…we decided to make our own free cone day! Sort of. Minus the cones. And free-ness. But we had a Dairy Queen day! On a day near when Free Cone Day might have been. And for even more fun, we rode our bikes there, which I just love to do. And it was a “sit outside with only a sweatshirt” kind of Dairy Queen day this year, which are always a little more fun than the “keep the car running so we don’t freeze” Dairy Queen days.

It may not have been exactly the same, but we’ll take it in these strange times. And we turn our hopeful eyes to Free Cone Day 2022.

And this morning on Facebook, this memory popped up for 2016! Free Cone Day with my littles!!