BlO—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 8,1982 Truckloads of cardboard tubing were shipped into town to span the 8000 feet. An estimated 16,000 people gathered in the town to wit ness history in the making. Here the ticket holders wait for the word to begin eating. And finally, after the bananas and ice cream, the chocolate and stawberry topping, and the nuts are all in place, it’s time to begin eating! Selinsgrove 'scoops' banana split record Now, don't be deceived by the Kid's Korner theme on this page, because the event we re about to describe is for kids from one to 101 If you enjoy ice cream and bananas and old fashioned tun then you II en)oy what the citizens of the small town Selmsgrove did foi an afternoon of fun and fund raising BY DEBBIE KOONTZ SELINSGROVE - This town, tucked into the valleys of Snyder County, went bananas over the weekend They also went nuts and cherries, and chocolate, and strawberries, and ice cream, and oh, just all sorts of delicious things You see, when the' people of Sehnsgrove decide they’re going to raise a little money for their band, they don’t waste time with hoagie sales and car washes. No . they have to make a big splash and haul in truckloads of ice cream, call the Guiness Book of World Records and close the mam street through town. Then they have to sell 8,000 tickets. .. afterall, someone has to help eat the longest banana split in the world. And, when it was ‘all said and done’, or as they say in banana split lingo when it was all scooped and syruped the split stretched for 8,005 feet, or ap proximately 11/2 miles. This distance exceeds the last record held by Texas A&M by exactly lOOOfeet. Under the sponsorship of the Sehnsgrove Area Band Boosters, the afternoon affair drew almost 16,000 people into the otherwise docile town Sidewalk sales lined the streets and college students from nearby Susquehanna University formed a line of human silhouettes agamst the sunny sky when they climbed to the rooftops of the mam street banks, stores, and restaurants, hoping to get a once-m-a-lifetime glance at the world’s longest banana split. Down below, as the foil-lined cardboard tubing rested on scattered stands about 30 inches off the ground, team captains distributed first bananas, then ice cream, then oodles of flavored topping to the waiting ticket holders who arrived complete with chairs and appetites. Cameras were snapping as television crews filmed enough coverage for the 11 o’clock news that night. Helicopters flew overhead filming the event and spectators had just as much fun watching as did those who had a chance to ‘taste’ a little history Overall, it proved to be a suc cessful event both for the band and for the town Selmsgrove could not escape the publicity about "Americana” that an event such as this would spark After all, at> so many of the citizens of the town liked to point out, how often do you see whole families and their neighbrs pulling together in one vast effort to offer an event which will make history, and offer en tertainment to neighboring towns and counties' But the small-town-pulling together idea wasn’t the only tree publicity emerging from this event Dairy farmers certainly have something to smile about Where else but in Sehnsgrove have over 8,000 people raised their spoons together and scooped into one of the most delicious and cool tasting members of the dairy in dustry ' mte Even store windows proclaim the event with anticipation and fervor. Some shops, like this one, offered 50 cents to the band boosters for every purchase made that day. A mile and a half doesn’t seem long until you begin laying tubing the entire length. Selinsgrove’s main street was shut ' for the big event. Ice cream always sends a shiver throu( system as these two little tykes can attest. Donned in blankets and shawls, they head home after all the ice cream is eaten. V'-U MU » -v - '• * \'*r r (. if *’ J >*. > a- 1 -, * V^‘ » r.'V
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers