Brandon’s ice cream aficionados looking for a little nostalgia mixed in with their soft serve don’t need to go far to get their hot afternoon fix. One of the oldest Dairy Queen franchises in the province — if not the oldest — has served up sundaes, banana splits, cones and parfaits for more than 70 years at the corner of 18th Street and Park Avenue.

“There is debate if our Dairy Queen was the first in the province,” says Laird Lidster, who owns the historic franchise with his wife Tracy. “There’s a walk up Dairy Queen on Sergeant Avenue in Winnipeg, but neither of us have really figured it out. But we were definitely the first in the city, and I would say arguably first in the province.”

A grand opening advertisement in The Brandon Sun on Aug. 7, 1954 with the tag line “The Cone with the

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