Authored By ahuntergrah

Kona Ice will be giving away free tropical shaved ice as part of its No Taxation Without Relaxation campaign on Tax Day.

“This is something that the Kona Ice Corp. has done for years,” Kona Ice of Cleveland and Chattanooga owner Kyle Elrod said. “It was just an idea to give some people a little bit of an escape and take a little bit of the stress off on what is usually a stressful day.”

April 18 is the deadline to file federal income tax information.

Tax Day The deadline to file is April 18. The traditional deadline is April 15, but that day is a Saturday this year. That would move the filing deadline to the following Monday, but that’s Emancipation Day, which is a legal holiday in the District of Columbia. So that holiday pushes the deadline to April 18.

Anyone who comes to the truck locations will receive a free Kona Ice and Hawaiian lei.

Kona Ice will be on the Erlanger campus at 975 E. Third St. from 1 until 4 p.m. and outside the SouthEast Bank in Cleveland at 3475 Keith St. from 1 until 3 p.m.

No Taxation Without Relaxation is part of Kona Ice’s giveback efforts that aim to at least put a smile on someone’s face.

Kona Ice has donated over $40 million to the communities it serves, according to a news release.

Locally, Kona Ice has donated more than $300,000 to Hamilton County and Bradley County schools, Ronald McDonald House, local youth sports leagues and other nonprofits, Elrod said.

“[Giving back] has always been an important part of the business model,” Elrod said. “We want to provide a fun product for everyone, but we also want to give back to the community.”

For more about Kona Ice’s giveback efforts, click here.

Alina Hunter-Grah is a contributing writer. She is also currently attending UTC, where she is the news editor for the school newspaper, The University Echo.