At which 1904 event did ice-cream cones gain widespread popularity in the United States?

Ice-cream cones gained widespread popularity in the United States at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition.

Better known as the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition attracted millions of visitors and showcased food, technology and cultural displays. Ice cream was already popular, but the fair is widely associated with the rapid spread of serving it in a crisp, edible cone.

A popular story says an ice-cream seller ran out of dishes and paired his product with a neighboring waffle vendor’s rolled wafer. Historians debate the exact first seller and details of that story, because cone-like edible containers existed before 1904.

The careful distinction is that the exposition helped popularize the cone; it was not necessarily the moment when the first ice-cream cone was invented. The event’s formal name was the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.