Occasional showers yesterday did not deter students from flocking to the Ben & Jerry’s in the Garage for its annual Free Cone Day.

In lines rivaled only by those seen at Annenberg during pre-frosh weekend, students waited at the Harvard Square Ben & Jerry’s yesterday for ice cream handouts during the 26th annual “Free Cone Day.”

But Rebecca H. Dezube ’04 also had a grander purpose.

A Ben & Jerry’s employee took a photo yesterday of Dezube, their first customer of the morning. After her 25 cycles through the line, Dezube must have been quite familiar to the workers who spent the day scooping ice cream onto cones.

Dezube has taken advantage of the free ice cream promotion since her first year at Harvard. Yesterday, she aimed to break her personal record with scoops of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Brownie Batter, with cones of Strawberry Kiwi in between.

“I had 10 freshman year and I’ve been trying to beat that,” Dezube said. “I’m just motivated by my sheer love for ice cream.”

Ben & Jerry’s said it expects to serve even more than the 5,000 cones it dished out last year at its Garage location to patrons who queued up outside the shop and onto Mount Auburn Street.

Despite the line’s imposing length, the average wait was about 4-8 minutes.

This small time investment inspired many to go back for seconds. Some people in line held one or two ice cream cones as they waited for more.

Celia R. Maccoby ’07 and her friend Katherine L. Penner ’07 went back for seconds before finishing their first cones.

“I haven’t had lunch yet,” Maccoby explained, a cone of Brownie Batter in her hand. “I’m thinking Cookie Dough or Cookies and Cream for my next one.”

As she raced to finish her first cone before reaching the front of line, she calculated how many times she could come back in the 30 minutes before class.

“I can be here until 2 p.m. and the first wait only took like two minutes,” she said.

Though she was unable to take advantage of Free Cone Day last year, Penner said she was happy that she could take full advantage of it this year.

“I heard about it last year and missed out,” Penner said. “I was really sad.”

Up the street, rival Herrell’s Ice Cream was empty, although employees at Herrell’s claimed that business was not slower than usual.