{"id":992659,"date":"2026-08-10T08:36:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T08:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/992659\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T08:36:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T08:36:26","slug":"rainbow-cone-celebrates-100-years-in-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/992659\/","title":{"rendered":"Rainbow Cone celebrates 100 years in Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

A line snaked around the Original Rainbow Cone\u2019s pink-painted Beverly storefront Sunday afternoon, as customers celebrated a century of the beloved confection.<\/p>\n

For some, like Beth Roland, the event was personal. Six of Roland\u2019s children worked at the shop as teenagers and, when two of her sons got married, Rainbow Cone owners Joe and Katherine Sapp even sent them rainbow cakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey packed many a cone,\u201d she said of her children.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Rosemary Smith fondly remembered childhood visits to the shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrandpa took us all the time,\u201d Smith, 80, said. Her family would drive down to Beverly from Bridgeport.<\/p>\n

The shop celebrated its birthday with balloons, temporary tattoos and a giant ice-cream-shaped cake \u2014 complete with Rainbow Cone\u2019s signature layered slices of chocolate, strawberry, Palmer House and pistachio almond ice creams, topped with orange sherbet. Last month, it also partnered with the Museum of Ice Cream for an exhibit marking the centennial.<\/p>\n

\"CustomersCustomers arrive at the pink storefront as Rainbow Cone celebrates their 100th birthday Aug. 9, 2026, in Chicago\u2019s Beverly neighborhood. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Rainbow Cone has been a regional icon since 1926<\/a>, signaling summer for generations of Chicagoans. The unconventional stack of flavors is created with a special slicing scoop, designed to create the cone\u2019s broad, flat layers and keep the tower of ice cream structurally sound.<\/p>\n

Over the years, the shop collected a devoted following. Lynn Sapp, granddaughter of Joe and Katherine Sapp, said it has even inspired some tattoos among its most hardcore fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the loyalty this product invokes,\u201d she said, looking at the mass of customers packing the shop.<\/p>\n

In the crowd was Ald. Matt O\u2019Shea, 19th, who said he grew up just two blocks away.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn summer nights, my father used to say to me and my siblings. \u2018If everyone finishes their dinner, we can walk up to Rainbow Cone,’\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"CustomersCustomers pick up their orders as Rainbow Cone celebrates their 100th birthday Aug. 9, 2026, in Chicago\u2019s Beverly neighborhood. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Rainbow Cone has left a lasting mark on Beverly, O\u2019Shea said, attracting people from across the city to the neighborhood and giving many teenagers their first jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not just a small business in the community, they\u2019re an institution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Although a lot has changed, Sapp said, \u201cthe cone\u2019s never wavered.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith all the gimmicks out there, the hundred-year cone is still working,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A line snaked around the Original Rainbow Cone\u2019s pink-painted Beverly storefront Sunday afternoon, as customers celebrated a century…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":992660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[65695,397977,9882,960,10320,5386,1818,397976],"class_list":["post-992659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-100-years","tag-beverly-neighborhood","tag-century","tag-chicago","tag-ice-cream","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-rainbow-cone"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117070306450600208","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=992659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/992660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=992659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=992659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=992659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}