First, the free pancakes at IHOP were canceled, and now this!  Dairy Queen won't be giving out free ice cream next month and we have the pandemic to blame.  

Every year around March 20th, Dairy Queen gives out free vanilla cones to anyone who wants one, but they've announced that they won't be doing it this year because of the pandemic.  The offering of free ice cream usually attracts crowds and long lines, and they don't want to take the risk.  We didn't get free cones last year either because everything started shutting down in mid-March, so this is the second straight year that Free Cone Day has been canceled.

Free cones are fun, but springing for a small soft-serve cone on our own doesn't set us back all that much.  The cones cost about $2, and DQ said there are plans to bring back the free day in 2022.

Those little cones only have 220 calories, and sometimes they're all we need to satisfy a sweet craving.  In theory, anyway.  Some of us might go to DQ thinking we'll get a small vanilla cone, and we end up with an Oreo Mocha Fudge Blizzard because the kids each ordered one and we fool ourselves into thinking we have the metabolism of a growing tween.  But it's all delicious.  And it's never too cold for ice cream.

Dairy Queen isn't the only restaurant that has been forced to cancel some fun recently.  I posted an article Friday about IHOP's cancellation of its National Pancake Day (although free short stacks can still happen throughout the month of April), and Chick-fil-A also moved its Cow Appreciation Day to the web last year.

We've gotten used to change, but it will be nice when all of the fun, free days are able to come back.  Whatever "normal" is, that might be a sign that we're back to it.
