March 20th is one of the happiest days of the year for a multitude of reasons.

The Vernal Equinox ushers in the official end of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, and one local summertime chain is celebrating. For almost two decades, Rita’s Italian Ices has been giving away free ices to customers to mark the occasion:

For the past 17 years, Rita’s has been giving away a free, regular size Italian Ice to each and every guest to mark the first day of spring! This is a sweet date for Italian Ice lovers, as each year, hundreds of thousands of our guests visit Rita’s in search of the first taste of spring.

A Philadelphia-born springtime tradition, the 17th annual Rita’s giveaway was held on Friday, March 20, 2009 from noon to 10 p.m. at participating Rita’s locations.  Rita’s guests showed their spring spirit and over 1.2 million cups of Italian Ice were given away in a ten hour period!

So Spring (or Autumn, if you live in the Southern Hemisphere) arrives midday today, go get an ice!