Tuesday was a spring-tease of a day. People threw off oppressive hooded coats to bask in the balm.
Wednesday was, well, more a day for curling up under a blanket with a nice cup of — ice cream?
Sure, if it’s free.
And it was, all day, at The Daily Scoop.
Over the past five years, a tradition has snowballed at the little store on East 12th Avenue near Madison Street: On the day after the first day of the year in which Denver’s temperature hits at least 70, the frozen custard is on the house.
Tuesday’s high of 73 was 2 degrees shy of a record. Wednesday’s high was 50, reached at 12:10 a.m., but the daytime high was a much cooler 34.
Daily Scoop regulars are notified of the event via e-mail, but long-timers simply know that when the crocuses come up and ski season is winding down, they should be on the lookout for the annual freebie.
On pretty much any other day — or at least a day in which you could hold a cup of ice cream comfortably without gloves — that $3.98 value of rich, creamy coldness in a cup would have been scooped up by hordes.
But while the sky was spitting frozen rain on the rest of us, Daily Scoop owner Wayne Evans must have felt the weather gods’ warm smile upon him.
By 2 p.m., he said, not a single person had come to relieve him of the free treat.
“Nope, not a one” — and he was just starting the accompanying shake of the head when three people walked in.
One of them, a woman whose gray-wool coat covered a wool sweater vest, walked up to the counter and said,”Ginny sent us,” as if she had entered a frozen-custard speakeasy.
The woman was Rosie Blecke, who had driven from the Veterans Affairs hospital with her husband, Merlin, and their granddaughter, Aleka Stevens. Ginny, who works at the hospital, had informed the Bleckes of the tradition.
Merlin Blecke earned his rocky road by enduring five hours of cancer treatment. As far as Rosie Blecke is concerned, when it comes to ice cream, there’s no such thing as too cold outside.
“Never,” she said, taking off her black leather gloves and looking around the otherwise empty store. “It’s warm in here.”
Karen Augé: 303-954-1733 or kauge@denverpost.com
