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Dairy Queen rings in spring with free cone day
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Cornersburg Dairy Queen employee Chynna Littlejohn (left) and owner Christine Smith displayed one of the cones they gave away during Free Cone Day.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Cornersburg Dairy Queen customer Craig Kovach enjoyed the cone he received for Free Cone Day.
By TIM CLEVELAND
For the past five years, the Dairy Queen locations at 3555 South Meridian Road and 146 North Canfield Niles Road have celebrated the first day of spring with a free cone giveaway, with donations being accepted that are given to Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley. This year, spring fell on March 20 for the giveaway.
During the five years of the promotion, the two locations have averaged more than 1,000 cones given away each year. Last year, they did 1,700 cones with $800 being donated to Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley.
“I think we’ve been doing it for about five years now,” locations owner Christine Smith said. “Last year we deviated from the first day of spring because we had a Blizzard sale going on. It’s just to celebrate the first day of spring. Akron Children’s Hospital came along with it the last couple years. We just decided if anyone wanted to donate to our children’s charity – which is Akron Children’s Hospital – you don’t have to donate any money, but if you would like to donate we accept donations for that.”
Youngstown’s Craig Kovach was one of the customers who came to the Cornersburg location, ordering a meal before adding a free cone.
“It’s pretty good,” he said of what he thought of the promotion. “I filled up on other stuff and I’m kind of forcing this down just because it’s free.”
Smith said the event is also good promotion for Dairy Queen.
“Hopefully they get a taste of Dairy Queen in their mouth and they think of us all season long,” she said. “That’s the important thing for us, for them to start thinking of us after the cold winter we had. I think people are excited to get out.”
Christine co-owns the locations with her husband, Ray. He said in a press release that he feels it’s important to give to Akron Children’s Hospital.
“I live and work in this area and feel that it is important to give back to my community,” he said. “I have four children myself. Thank God I have only needed the hospital for a few broken fingers. I am blessed that all of my children are healthy. I am also grateful that we have such an excellent facility in my back yard, should I ever need it.”