Standard gives away over 800 banana splits
But of the hundreds of people who left the newspaper office, Geraldine Ritchey had to be one of the happiest. That’s because her name was drawn from hundreds of entries as the winner of the Standard’s fun pack.
“I can’t believe I won,” said Ritchey who reached over and hugged 6-year-old Eden Fryar, who was given the task of picking a name at random.
The drawing brought an end to Banana Day, the third straight year the newspaper has given away free banana splits to kick off the start of summer. This year, newspaper employees were especially busy, and unlike previous years, they kept track of how many banana splits left the building.
By the time the whipped cream and chocolate syrup settled, 834 banana splits had been given away. One nearby business came in and walked away with nine banana splits at one time.
“We were really pleased with the turnout,” said Standard publisher Patricia Zechman. “Especially since it was raining outside, pretty heavily at some points, and we thought all morning that was going to hurt us. But people showed up in the rain to get their banana splits and we’re certainly glad they did.”
People began requesting banana splits as early at 1 p.m., even though the giveaway didn’t start until 2 p.m. The only glitch came around 3:30 p.m. when the ice cream ran out but a quick trip to the store remedied that situation.