Ryerson scoops up 25th annual Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day

Apr 13, 2018 | Life

Students checked out free ice cream samples on Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day on April 10 at Ryerson University. (Rucha Devarchetti)

Rucha Devarchetti

A line of people waiting patiently was the uncharacteristic scene on Gould Street last Tuesday afternoon.

Ryerson University campus played host to Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day on April 10, now entering its 25th year in Canada and anyone on campus was able to taste Ben & Jerry’s yummy ice cream for free.

Despite the chilly weather, people queued up enthusiastically to sample some ice cream.

Ben & Jerry’s have been distributing free ice creams at all its outlets on April 10. The brand’s founders started this practice 40 years ago in the U.S. as a way of saying thanks to the audiences who made the ice cream a success. Till date, people love to get some free ice cream, weather notwithstanding.

Chocolate Fudge Brownie and Cookie Dough, two of Ben & Jerry’s popular flavours, were handed out for free. (Rucha Devarchetti)

“I got to taste the chocolate fudge ice cream and it was really good,” said Manbir Gill, one of the students at Ryerson’s computer engineering program, who turned up to taste some ice cream with her friends. “I’m going back to have some more if it’s free,” she added with a laugh.

It wasn’t just students who braved the cold for a scoop. Omar Ha-Redeye, one of the teachers at Ryerson, was walking to his school when he saw the people waiting in line and went to check out the fuss. He ended up with free ice cream and a big smile on his face.

“It was a really fast-moving line out there,” said Ha-Redeye, who loves to eat ice cream in any season. He did not think twice about the flurries swirling around him as he enjoyed the scoop. “Despite the cold, if anything it just means that your ice-cream lasts longer, I can sit here and talk to you, its [the ice cream is] not going to melt on me. So ice cream in the middle of winter is not a problem for me,” he said.

People queued up enthusiastically in cold weather to sample the ice cream. (Rucha Devarchetti)

Christin Oliver from Ben & Jerry’s marketing department was at Ryerson serving ice cream. “My estimate is that we will sell around four to five thousand samples in the three hours that we are here,” Oliver said. “One of the reasons why we chose the Ryerson campus is because it is in the heart of downtown and quite a central location close to Eaton Centre and Yonge-Dundas.”

The ice cream distributed this year included chocolate chip, cookie dough, chocolate fudge brownie, some of Ben & Jerry’s top selling flavours. The team also had non-dairy flavours in stock, which they served on special requests.

Oliver said they will do events at other campuses and locations as a part of Fairtrade Canada. Otherwise, they will be back same time, same place next year with more samples of free ice cream.