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June 10 is the Banana Split Festival

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June 10, 2026, marked the 32nd annual Banana Split Festival. Behind the scenes of this sweet celebration, a battle has raged for years between the citizens of two All-American towns.

Each year, the festivities honor Ernest Hazard of Wilmington, Ohio, who concocted the treat in 1907 to attract Wilmington College students to his establishment.

He halved a banana, added three scoops of ice cream, topped each with chocolate syrup, strawberry jam, or pineapple bits, sprinkled ground nuts on top, covered it in whipped cream, and added two cherries for good measure. He later brainstormed the name with a cousin.

banana split festival

Hazard’s Cafe, Wilmington, OH

In June 1995, the people of Wilmington created the Banana Split Festival to commemorate Hazard’s invention. It’s been celebrated every year since.

However, in August 2004, residents of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, announced that pharmacist David Strickler had invented the dessert at Tassel Pharmacy in 1904, three years before Hazard. The town instituted its own Great American Banana Split Celebration, pegged to the 100th anniversary.

The National Ice Cream Retailers Association (NICRA) certified Latrobe as the birthplace of the banana split. Food historian Michael Turback, author of The Banana Split Book, agreed, although he was unable to find any hard evidence, such as newspaper clippings on which to base his decision.

banana split festival

Tassel Pharmacy, Latrobe, PA

“Soda fountains were very competitive,” Turback explained of the opposing claims.  “They were always trying to outdo each other, to see who had the most elaborate sundaes.”

While Wilmington, Ohio, and Latrobe, Pennsylvania, continue to duke it out for dessert dominance, the real winners are banana split fans who have not one, but two events to celebrate their love for a whole lot of ice cream with a little bit of fruit.

Ohio’s festival features live music, pony rides, a petting zoo, a baseball tournament, a 5K run, and a banana split eating competition (no hands allowed!). However, the featured attraction every year is a “make your own banana split” booth. Yum!

Happy Banana Split Festival! (And don’t worry: you’ll get another chance to celebrate in August!)

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Festival of Popular Delusions Day

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festival of popular delusions dayToday is Festival of Popular Delusions Day. It is said to have originated in Germany on June 5th, 1945. Let’s begin with some background information about this mysterious holiday.

On June 6th, 1944, over 160,000 Allied soldiers landed on a 50-mile stretch of beach in Normandy, France. Nazi troops heavily guarded the area to prevent enemy access to the country’s interior. Operation Neptune, which would become known as D-Day, aimed to break through the line and free continental Europe.

The assault was initially scheduled to take place in May but had to be postponed until more landing craft could be secured. It appeared that poor weather conditions on the morning of June 6th would cause another delay. General Dwight D. Eisenhower decided to proceed as planned.

Heavy cloud cover hindered air strikes, and some airborne troops who parachuted in missed their landing zones by miles. By the end of the day, an estimated 10,000 Allied troops had been killed, wounded, or were missing in action. The Allies fought to gain ground, ultimately breaking out of Normandy on August 15th. Ten days later, they liberated Paris. German forces retreated soon afterward.

On June 6th, 1944, German troops weren’t expecting an invasion. They assumed the Allies wouldn’t attack when the bad weather would put them at a disadvantage. June 5th, 1944, turned out to be the last day the Nazis could delude themselves that they would rule the Earth for a thousand years. One year later, this holiday was inaugurated to mark the first anniversary of that day.

Supposedly, that was the inspiration for the first Festival of Popular Delusions Day. Maybe we’re delusional for wanting to believe this legend. There are undoubtedly plenty of popular delusions to choose from these days. No matter which one you pick, have a happy Festival of Popular Delusions Day!

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June 3 is Repeat Day

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Repeat DayToday is Repeat Day, an unofficial holiday of unknown provenance that celebrates the do-over. But does it imply that we must reenact this moment exactly as it is, in excruciating detail? Can we achieve that level of granularity or even comprehend it?

If we are able and willing to participate in this endeavor, must we start right now? (If so, must we keep reading the foregoing sentence over and over?) When is it acceptable to stop: at 11:59:59? How will we know if we can’t get past the preceding questions?

We feel the creator of Repeat Day didn’t fully consider the possible ramifications of this lighthearted holiday unless he or she is a disgruntled philosopher bent on destroying the world. We have attempted to avert an endless time-loop of navel-gazing existential paralysis by making this post so annoying that we would never be tempted to subject ourselves to a repeat reading.

Mission accomplished.

 

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May 31 is Speak in Complete Sentences Day

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speak in complete sentences dayToday is Speak in Complete Sentences Day. Celebrating this holiday may prove more difficult than you’d think.

The advent of text and email messages has led to an economy of words and a profusion of symbols, acronyms, and slang. Sentence structure has been sacrificed on the altar of expediency. Emojis and acronyms are quick, convenient ways to express feeling or intent. Anyone who has hesitated before posting a status update, worried readers might misconstrue its tone, then added a winking face or “lol” can attest to the value of this form of shorthand.

Spell-checking programs, if used at all, may lull writers into a false sense of security. Has the casual disdain for grammar and spelling found on forums, blogs, and comment sections trickled up to professional sites, which are now riddled with mistakes? (Have you ever been a good citizen and let someone know about an error, only to hear crickets or get “yeah, who cares” in reply?)

No matter its genesis, carelessness erodes our language skills each day we grow more accustomed and inured to it. Today, honor your mother tongue by uttering and writing complete sentences. It could become a trend!

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