Serving Up Fun: Standard?s Banana Day draws crowd

By MARGARET HOBBS Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Standard employees, from left, Teresa Warren, Phyllis Vanatta and Lauren Zechman dish up bowls of ice cream in the banana split assembly line.

Banana Day, the Standard?s annual party to kick-off the summer season, treated approximately 800 guests with free banana splits. Many hours of planning and organizing goes into the event each year. Advertising director Sharon Patrick and managing editor Pat Zechman have gotten the party planning down to an exact science.

?This is our fifth year for Banana Day, and we realize the public looks forward to it. They come here to the office, visit with other residents and enjoy the dessert. People would miss this special day if we didn?t do it. It?s our way of showing appreciation to our customers and the community,? said Patrick.

Standard employees literally set up a banana split assembly line with some preparing the bananas, scooping ice cream, adding the fruit and chocolate sauce and, of course, topping the creation with whipped cream and a maraschino cherry.

Employees shift from working in the back to welcoming guests and serving the sweet treats. Youth volunteers, 2005 Dairy Princess Sarah Colangione, dairy month chairman Lauren Lytle, Lorin Walker, Micah Welch, Eric Cantrell, Keaton Welch and Savanah Scott worked the entire afternoon to make the day a success.

On the especially hot afternoon, with the threat of rain showers, customers braved the elements in search of the perfect dessert for a humid day.

Of course, the door prize of $300 of gas may have enticed some to come out. The lucky winner was Mary Haley.