PRINTER'S NO. 1072
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE RESOLUTION
No.
187
Session of
2019
INTRODUCED BY K. WARD, JUNE 25, 2019
INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED, JUNE 25, 2019
A RESOLUTION
Designating August 25, 2019, as "Banana Split Day" in
Pennsylvania.
WHEREAS, This year marks 115 years since the banana split was
first made in the United States; and
WHEREAS, The banana split was first made and sold in Latrobe,
Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, A 23-year-old University of Pittsburgh student and
apprentice pharmacist named David Strickler was working at
Tassell's Pharmacy in 1904 where he made frozen treats with ice
cream; and
WHEREAS, One day Mr. Strickler was challenged by a customer
to make something different, which he did by cutting lengthwise
a recent import to America - a fruit called the banana, and
laying both halves in a dish, then placing three scoops of
different-flavored ice cream on top, heaping strawberries,
chocolate syrup and pineapple chunks over the ice cream, adding
chopped nuts, then topping it all with whipped cream and
crowning each mound with a maraschino cherry, all for the price
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of 10ยข; and
WHEREAS, Westmoreland Glass Company, located in Grapeville,
began making custom-made long, narrow dishes in 1905 after Mr.
Strickler placed an order for what he called "banana boat"
dishes and continued to produce them for banana splits until
1984; and
WHEREAS, A coworker of Mr. Strickler's eventually left
Latrobe to attend the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia
and worked in a soda fountain where he began making banana
splits; and
WHEREAS, Within the next 10 years, the banana split would
become synonymous with America's most famous beach resort at the
time, Atlantic City, where people from all over tried the banana
split and its popularity grew; and
WHEREAS, The banana split grew into a national treasure of a
treat after Walgreens Drug Store made it the store's signature
dish at its soda fountains across the country in the 1920s; and
WHEREAS, The Greater Latrobe-Laurel Valley Chamber of
Commerce hosts the annual "Great American Banana Split
Celebration" to honor the heritage of the banana split within
the Latrobe community, bringing thousands of visitors to the
area for the festival's three-day event every August; and
WHEREAS, The National Ice Cream Retailers Association
commemorated Latrobe as the official birthplace of the banana
split; and
WHEREAS, In 2016, the United States Postal Service issued a
series of "Soda Fountain Favorite" stamps which included the
banana split; and
WHEREAS, The banana split is still a staple menu item at ice
cream parlors and dining establishments across the United
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States; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate designate August 25, 2019, as
"Banana Split Day" in Pennsylvania; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Senate encourage all residents of this
Commonwealth to join in recognizing and enjoying a banana split.
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