A shout-out to Ben & Jerry’s for celebrating its anniversary, April 8, with Free Cone Day. The free scoops were offered up by the ice cream company on its first anniversary back in 1979. “We’ve kept it up every year since, spreading the peace, love & ice cream around the globe,” according to a statement on the company’s website.
This is the kind of celebration you would expect from a company that makes imaginative flavors like “Hazed & Confused,” “Salted Caramel Blondie,” “Chunky Monkey,” and or course “Cherry Garcia, ” which is named for the late rock guitarist and lead singer of “The Grateful Dead” Jerry Garcia.
Ben & Jerry’s co-founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, opened their first scoop shop in a renovated Vermont gas station in 1978. In 2000, the socially conscious ice cream company was bought by the international consumer products firm, Unilever. Now, there are scoop shops all across the U.S. and in more than 30 countries worldwide.
Ben & Jerry has issued a challenge to its fans: “The ice cream maker wants to give away more ice cream than ever before, setting a target to dish out more than 1 million cones in the U.S. alone,” according to UnileverUSA. So go get your scoop on.
It’s tough getting to the Ben & Jerry website right now, so you might have to do a search for the location closest to you. In Burbank, Ben & Jerry’s is at 164 East Palm Avenue in the downtown area. The free cones will be handed out from noon until 8 p.m today.
