The ice cream cone statue that crowned the front of the Dairy Queen on Shroyer Road has abdicated its position, at least temporarily.
Owner Bill Stump said he used heavy machinery Sunday morning to take down the statue for repairs.
“It was starting to rot at the bottom,” he said of the cone statue’s base. “I was so afraid it would fall on someone.”
The cone was carved out of a large tree that Stump said he had to cut in 2009 for health reasons. He cut back the tree several times, but bird droppings still would continuously fall onto the tables and kept ruining the umbrellas. He said it was a tough decision to cut the tree, but cone statue was a way to keep at least part of it.
Now, he’s committed to preserving the cone, which he said is resting on a mattress in his yard at home following its trip in the bed of a trailer.
“I’m going to try to save it and put it back up on a pole,” he said.
Stump, who has owned the eatery for 29 years, said it opened in 1948 at 1042 Shroyer Road and is the oldest Dairy Queen in Dayton.
