8-12-2026 10:54pm

DAIRY QUEEN STILL ROYALTY IN WARREN COUNTY

Beth Callahan Editor

WARREN COUNTY, OH -- DAIRY QUEEN has been a fixture in many communities since it’s founding in Joliet, Illinois in 1940. The soft serve ice cream was created in 1939, and it didn’t take long to spread across the United States and numerous foreign countries.

Today, there are OVER 7,800 Dairy Queens around the world in 27 countries. In the USA, there are 4,455. And, DQ is definitely a fixture here in Warren County. After all, you can’t go wrong in summer with those soft serve Ice cream treats !

Best known for the ice cream cones, DAIRY QUEEN is also the home of the BLIZZARD@ which is a thick ice cream delight in a cup, which is known for being so frozen that when it is handed to you, it does not fall out of the cup when turned upside down. There are multiple delicious flavors for these. There is always sundaes, shakes, iced coffees and light foods like hotdogs.(And, at some Grill and Chill DQ’s, there are meals.)

There are several types of DQ's:

WALK UP/CLASSICS

Known as a “walk up”/carryout or the Classic DQ, these DAIRY QUEENS tend to be open with a limited season and do not have inside seating such as the one LEBANON and Miamisburg (Montgomery County).

Twenty years ago, when I moved to Lebanon, the DQ closed every fall in November. I knew spring arrived when the DQ opened again in March. People here could tell the change of the seasons by whether DQ was open or not. This has shifted to more all year with new owners in Lebanon. Always a treat anytime every summer there is always a line of people and cars ready to “cool off” with a frozen treat !

CLASSIC EAT-INS

Then, there is the Classic DQ with inside seating and no walk up window. Instead, there is a drive thru, and they are opened all year long selling all the famous ice cream dishes along with the limited menu of hotdogs, such as the ones in SPRINGBORO and Centerville (Montgomery County).

GRILL AND CHILL

Besides all the ice cream treats, the NEWER DQ’s are open all year long and have eat in areas, as well as drive thrus. They offer a larger selection of meal type foods such as burger baskets, chicken finger baskets, fries and fried cheese curds.

The GRILL AND CHILLs in the Warren County vicinity are KINGS MILL, CARLISLE and Middletown (Butler County).

Still the leading “soft serve” chain in Warren County you can get yours at:

Dairy Queen CARLISLE Grill and Chill: 490 Central Ave, Carlisle, OH 45005
Dairy Queen KINGS MILL Grill and Chill: 5277 Kings Mill Road, Mason, OH 45045
Dairy Queen MONROE Grill and Chill: 1319 Hamilton Lebanon Rd., Monroe, OH 45050
Dairy Queen LEBANON Classic: 580 Columbus Ave, Lebanon, OH 45036
Dairy Queen SPRINGBORO Classic: 220 W. Central Ave. Springboro, OH 45066