Ben and Jerry's, the newest entrant in the Harvard Square ice cream market, is trying to earn 1,600 new customers this year by donating all the ice cream for Monday night's first-year ice cream bash. But the move has drawn protest from Herrell's Ice Cream owner Jessica G. Leahy, who fears smaller ice cream stores will no longer get exposure to first-year consumers.

In past years, multiple businesses have donated ice cream for the bash, in response to requests from the Crimson Key Society, according to Michael S. Roiff '01, a member of the group who organized this year's event.

But this year, Ben and Jerry's offered to donate all the ice cream for the popular first-year event--enough for 2,000 people, he said.

"It's good ice cream, and Ben and Jerry's said that if we provided the people to scoop it, they would donate enough for the event," Roiff said.

Leahy said she feels the move will hurt small Square businesses who enjoyed the exposure the bash provided.

"They are shutting us out from 1,600 new faces," she said. "The small mom-and-pop businesses that [have] killed themselves to help out over the years are being pushed out by Ben and Jerry's, which is a huge corporation."

Roiff said that in past years, the society received tubs of ice cream from many area merchants, including Toscanini's and Baskin Robbins.

But receiving all the ice cream from one supplier is easier, Roiff said, because in the past, organizers had to drive around to pick up all the ice cream.

--Joyce K. McIntyre