Colossal Cones in Stevens Point

While waiting for the dial-up modem to connect in the Drink Wisconsinbly Week in Review newsroom, the Editorial Board began thumbing through The Old Farmer’s Almanac and noted that the Dog Days of Summer officially come to an end next Saturday. It served as a wake-up call, a reminder that the actual end of summer isn’t far behind. Fortunately, there is still plenty of time to squeeze in a huge amount of seasonal good stuff during the homestretch. And when it comes to the ice cream cones at Belt’s Soft Serve in Stevens Point, we do mean a huge amount.

Belt’s has been fueling summertime sugar highs since 1981. They offer a full complement of frozen treats, but their ice cream cones are what grab the headlines. They tout themselves as the “Home of the Large Cone,” and they aren’t kidding.

Their cones are absolutely huge. In fact, they’re so big that they should come with a warning label for those with limited wrist strength. They’re so tall that they could serve as a pop quiz in a structural engineering course. In fact, they may not even be in compliance with local zoning codes. If one of them played youth sports, its parents would have to bring its birth certificate to prove it was the same age as the other ice cream cones. And if it were part of an old-time carnival, it would share a tent with the bearded lady, and people would come from miles around to gawk at its freakishly large size. Kids who get one of their cones as a reward probably experience some lingering guilt afterward because they weren’t actually that good. You get the idea. They’re big.

Possibly the best part about a big Belt’s cone is the price. You can have a handheld frozen feast for under $6. In this era of shrinkflation, that is as refreshing as, well, ice cream on a hot day.

Like many ice cream merchants at this latitude, Belt’s shuts down for the winter. But people line up on Division Street when they open in March, and keep coming until they shut down for the season in mid-October.

So, you still have time to get a summer ice cream fix if you save room for dessert. You may want to skip the vegetables to be sure. Or maybe just skip dinner altogether.