National Donut Day, which should be a federal holiday but isn’t, is Friday June 2. Here are the places giving out free donuts.
Friday June 2 is National Donut Day and to make your weekly TGIF a little bit sweeter, a number of donut purveyors are giving away their goods (or some of their goods) for free. It’s usually celebrated on the first Friday in June and this year that’s June 2.
Specifically, you can get a free donut at national chains Dunkin’ Donuts and Krispy Kreme on Friday. At DD, they ask that you buy a beverage to complement the donut. (We recommend something with the new s’mores syrup.) But at Krispy Kreme, no purchase is necessary.
In addition to major players like Dunkin’ Donuts and Krispy Kreme, most cities have an array of local chains and or (relatively) artisan doughnut shops. Be sure to check your favorites, there’s an exceptionally good chance that they will have, if not free donuts, delicious deals.
Entenmann’s is another donut brand — not quite on the DD or KK level but with locations in a dozen cities — who plans on giving away 150,000 donuts on the day. They’re even offering a Facebook sweepstakes to give 10 winners free donuts for a full year. It could be donut day every day.
As Food & Wine reports, the holiday is pretty legit, as far as food holidays go:
"Apparently, it was established all the way back in 1938 by the Chicago Salvation Army in order to honor women who gave doughnuts to soldiers during the First World War.“Salvation Army ‘Doughnut Girls’ served along the front lines during WWI and WWII, giving soldiers free coffee and doughnuts,” a blog post on the Chicago Salvation Army website reads. “In Chicagoland, The Salvation Army commemorates Donut Day by raising awareness and support for its services to those in need, including providing shelter, food, early childhood education, after-school programming, music education, alcohol and substance abuse rehabilitation and more.”"
No matter your feelings about the Salvation Army, the organization is no longer affiliated with donuts directly, so partake in the holiday freely. And by freely, we mean with free donuts.