Free Cone Day Benefits Boys & Girls Club

As a way to say “thank you” to Newport and the community, Ben & Jerry’s of Newport will be doling out free ice cream all afternoon today, April 12. All their proceeds will benefit the .

Each customer will be offered a free scoop of the flavor of their choice in cone or dish. Ben & Jerry’s will also sell their hand-made waffle cones for $1.

“We do it every year,” said Mike Griffin, of the Thames Street location. “Typically we serve between 5,000 to 8,000 scoops.” Griffin said he expects similar numbers this year, and that the busiest time is between 3 and 8 p.m.

The beauty of Free Cone Day is that each customer isn’t limited to one visit per day, but can stop in as many times as his or her stomach can handle. Griffin said one year a customer came in for 14 scoops in one afternoon.

Over the past two years the Newport locations collected money for Child & Family and the Potter League for Animals and raised around $500 dollars for each. Every year the shops try to benefit a certain local charity. “We try to spread it around,” Griffin said.

Griffin said he hoped for good weather to draw in customers, but noted that they don’t need sunshine to bring in crowds.

“It’s rained on Free Cone Day for as along as I can remember,” Griffin said.

Free Cone Day isn’t the only day that Ben & Jerry’s in Newport gives the sweet stuff away for free. Aside from the April giveaway, the ice cream shop dishes out “between seven and eight thousand” additional scoops a year to smaller scale charities and events. “This is the only large-scale event,” he said.

Get your free scoop at either 33 Bannister's Wharf or 359 Thames Street.