DQ's Blizzardmobile serves up cold ones

Dairy Queen is celebrating its infamous Blizzard Flavor Treat's twenty-fifth birthday in a big way by completing the company's first-ever mobile event vehicle.

The Blizzardmobile, as part of a 25 city tour through U.S. and Canada now through August, made a stop in Louisville, Ky at Kosair Children's Hospital-Brownsboro.

Dairy Queen's fans flocked for free Blizzards and were served an Oreo or Strawberry Golden Oreo Mini Blizzard, the Blizzard of the Month.

While enjoying their Blizzards, the crowd listened to music and spent time with their families. An inflatable wind tunnel provided entertainment for children, who could step into it and catch paper money. The child received a DQ coupon for every paper money caught.

This playful vehicle is decked-out with a blue, Oreo theme with replicas of DQ's familiar red spoons holding the windshield wipers.

Nikol Theis, regional marketing manager for the south central region, said the purpose of the Blizzardmobile is to celebrate the Blizzard's birthday with customers and fans by "bringing the party to the people."

When the Blizzardmobile makes a stop, the emcee, Chad Smith, comes out and tells a little about the Blizzardmobile and the purpose of the tour. Smith's other important job is to keep the crown ‘pumped up.' Smith said the Blizzardmobile has been successful and can't be missed.

"It's been overwhelmingly positive," Smith said. "As soon as you roll into town, people notice the Blizzardmobile. It's a big, huge, fun vehicle and when people see us, they've see the spots, and they go along with it."

Blizzardmobile helps local market

Besides celebrating the Blizzard's birthday, the DQ Blizzardmobile was created to help introduce the company's Mini Blizzard, which will be available to the public beginning in August.

The DQ Blizzardmobile also has helped spread excitement about the Blizzard's birthday. Many Dairy Queen stores have thrown parties to celebrate with their customers and added 25 favorite Blizzard flavors to its menu.

The DQ Blizzardmobile has also helped local markets by being partnered with the Children's Miracle Network (CMN) for 26 years. The whole DQ system has raised $81 million for the CMN. The Blizzardmobile provides customers the opportunity to donate to the CMN at each stop made on the tour.

Theis said when customers visit the Blizzardmobile and donate to the CMN, part of the money goes to a CMN local hospital. This is beneficial because the money stays to help the community who donated it.

In Louisville, Children's Miracle Network has donated $60,000 for Kosair Children's Hospital.

According to Courtney Shewmaker, program director of CMN for Kosair, the money goes toward the greatest need of the hospital. Kosair Children's Hospital-Brownsboro is renovating its Neonatal unit, which is the fifth largest in the country and plans to use funds donated by the CMN to complete it.

Despite the success of the DQ Blizzardmobile and with half of the tour almost complete, the future of the Blizzardmobile is unclear.

Dean Peters, associate vice president of communications for Dairy Queen said the company is unsure of the vehicle's future use in an e-mail, "We wouldn't entertain the idea of purchasing (the Blizzardmobile) and using it next year, however, we just haven't gone down that road yet."

To view a slideshow of the Blizzardmobile local tour stops, click here.