Burlington-born Ben & Jerry's wants to hit 1-million mark on this year's Free Cone Day

Ben & Jerry’s has an assignment for you. The company wants you to eat ice cream. For free.

The famed ice-cream makers who began the business in a former gas station 46 years ago in downtown Burlington have announced their latest Free Cone Day. The company will dole out free ice-cream cones at its scoop shops in Burlington and across the world between noon and 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 16.

Ben & Jerry’s has a goal with this year’s giveaway. The company wants to surpass last year’s total of more than 970,000 free cones and hit the 1-million mark by handing out cones filled with flavors ranging from old favorites such as Chunky Monkey to new tastes including mango and PB S’more.

According to a news release announcing this year’s Free Cone Day, the event began in 1979 because founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield had survived their first winter “as a tiny, independent, two-person ice cream business – in the frozen tundra of Vermont.” The National Weather Service deemed that season “the brutal winter of 1978-1979,” according to the release, as the average temperature hit a record low of 14.1 degrees Fahrenheit and the season snowfall total set a high mark of 52.9 inches.

For frozen-food fans fretting that one free cone just isn’t sufficient, Ben & Jerry’s – driven by its desire to give out enough freebies to hit seven digits – reminds potential visitors that they can get in line and wait for their free ice cream as many times as they’d like on April 16.

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com.