A spring tradition: Dairy Queen is giving away free ice cream today

Today is the first day of spring. That means warmer temperatures, longer days and free ice cream at Dairy Queen.

To celebrate the end of winter, Dairy Queen on Wednesday is offering customers one free small vanilla soft-serve cone, topped with its signature curl, of course.

Now in its fifth year, "Free Cone Day" has become an annual springtime sacrament from the Edina-based ice cream chain.

"We love that our tradition of Free Cone Day has become synonymous with return of warmer weather and bringing people together," said Maria Hokanson, American Dairy Queen Corporation's executive vice president of marketing, in a news release.

The offer is available at participating non-mall locations and there's a limit of one cone per customer. You can find a location here.

The chain will continue to offer a sweet deal the rest of the month. From March 21-31, customers can get a small regular or dipped soft serve cone for 50 cents through the DQ mobile app.

Austen Macalus is a University of Minnesota student on assignment for the Star Tribune.