My Favorite Dairy Queen, 1970s, by Marshall Poe

From MemoryArchive

Who: Marshall Poe
What: A Dairy Queen
When: 1970s
Where: Wichita, KS

This is a picture of my favorite Dairy Queen. It's in Wichita, Kansas, at 460 South Oliver. It was around the corner from where my mom grew up, and not far from where I grew up. It opened in 1954 and closed in 1996. Too bad.

As a kid, I thought this DQ was the greatest place in the world. Whenever I was especially good, my mom would take me there. Whenever I won a game, or lost, my mom would take me there. And whenever things were looking dim for our little family, my mom would take me there. My little sis came too. Seems like we were there a lot.

I liked the Dipped Cones, and wondered how they made the little "Q" at the top and got the chocolate to stick. I was also a fan of the Peanut Buster Parfait and the Brownie Sundaes. The Mister Mistys were cool, but I never went for them--soft serve was my thing.

My favorite memory of this humble DQ involves of all things the dentist. Mine was just down the street. Back in those days, they didn't like to give little kids too much anesthesia. Might kill'em, or so they thought. I had a lot of cavities (for obvious reasons) and dreaded getting them filled (for obvious reasons). But there was one thing I could look forward to after the torture was done: my mom--without a hint of irony--took me to the DQ. Those were the days.