Ben & Jerry's is giving out free ice cream cones all day Monday

By Peter Chianca

It may not be what you’d typically think of as "ice cream weather" — we’ll be inching into the low 50s Monday in Boston, if we’re lucky — but let's face it, is there any circumstance in which ice cream is inappropriate? Of course not. And Ben & Jerry's knows it.

That's no doubt why the famous Vermont-based ice cream chain has reintroduced Free Cone Day, their first since 2019. (Yes, you can add free ice cream to the list of things COVID got in the way of.) Free single-scoop cones are available from noon until 8 p.m. at all Ben & Jerry's locations, including the seven in Greater Boston and several out in the suburbs — you can find your closest location at the ice creamery's website.

Ben & Jerry's has given out more and more ice cream each year since its first Free Cone Day event in 1979: In 2015, the company claimed to give out more than a million scoops. And with a three-year absence to make up for, you can only assume at least that many will be, well, scooped up this year. (If you’re the indecisive type, B&J's also offers a quiz to determine which flavor you should get.)

Still, in Boston, Ben & Jerry's has a ways to go before it becomes a top stop for ice cream: A poll of Boston.com readers last summer failed to place it in the top five local spots for ice-creamy goodness. Maybe the return of free cones will win some local ice cream lovers over.

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