A Dairy Queen cone was never just about ice cream.
It could mean the end of a summer day, a reward after swimming or baseball, a family piled into the car, or a few coins in your pocket and the freedom to ride your bike somewhere on your own.
The shape is instantly familiar, but the memory it unlocks is different for everyone.
That’s American Material Memory: ordinary objects and experiences become personal landmarks, reminding us not only of what we enjoyed, but of where we were and who was there with us.
From the Artist:
Every year as kids, when the weather started getting warmer, we’d all jump on a bus at Pte. Tremble Elementary School and ride to Wingrove’s (sort of like the local Dairy Queen), where we’d each get a free ice cream cone.
That was every year, every grade (K-5th), without fail, and I always got vanilla!
Years later, I was told by Kendall Wingrove that the “free ice cream” was the most brilliant marketing plan his grandfather ever came up with because every kid went home that day and told their parents that Wingrove’s was open again, after closing for the winter. That’s exactly what we all did.
A Dairy Queen cone was never just about ice cream.
It could mean the end of a summer day, a reward after swimming or baseball, a family piled into the car, or a few coins in your pocket and the freedom to ride your bike somewhere on your own.
The shape is instantly familiar, but the memory it unlocks is different for everyone.
That’s American Material Memory: ordinary objects and experiences become personal landmarks, reminding us not only of what we enjoyed, but of where we were and who was there with us.
From the Artist:
Every year as kids, when the weather started getting warmer, we’d all jump on a bus at Pte. Tremble Elementary School and ride to Wingrove’s (sort of like the local Dairy Queen), where we’d each get a free ice cream cone.
That was every year, every grade (K-5th), without fail, and I always got vanilla!
Years later, I was told by Kendall Wingrove that the “free ice cream” was the most brilliant marketing plan his grandfather ever came up with because every kid went home that day and told their parents that Wingrove’s was open again, after closing for the winter. That’s exactly what we all did.
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