With a spoon in each hand, dozens of kids dove into a single banana split. That banana split just happened to be 64 feet long.
The Independent Bible Baptist Christian continued its Vacation Bible School with a unique dessert treat. But the idea came from the kids getting involved.
“Last year, we had funnel cakes for our dessert,” said Pastor Jim Fryer. “But the person we usual go to for that was busy this week at Arma Homecoming. One kid said that he wanted a banana split. I told the kids that the attendance on Tuesday night would determine how long the banana split would be.”
Monday, the attendance for the VBS was around 40. For the length-determining night, 64 kids showed up.
The sweet treat consisted of bananas (of course), fruit cocktail, sprinkles, chocolate syrup, cookie crumbs, and chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and Neapolitan ice creams.
Shortly after the dessert was gone, one little boy ran around with his shirt tied around his chest and chocolate smeared across his face, yelling, “I am Mr. Chocolate!”
The VBS was more than just food. The VBS lasts from Monday to Friday and will end with another IBBC tradition: The fire department will bring the hoses out and spray the kids down.
The VBS is designed for ages “3 to teenagers”, Fryer said. Fryer said this is not the first time he has done the long banana split. At another church, he said, the group made a 125-foot banana split.
A group of 13-year-olds attempted to protect their own sections of ice cream before being moved down the line. They later returned to their prepared banana split sections.
That group, consisting of Erin O’Dell, Lura Jackson and Infinity Butcher, described the event as “phenomenal”.
Jackson added that the event “doesn’t happen everywhere and it makes a lot of people happy.”
That was part of the reasoning, Fryer said. In fact, the VBS drew people by itself without much help from invitations.
“We had kids from the neighborhood who saw that we were having events and activities and went home and asked their parents if they could come out the next night,” Fryer said. “It adds a lot of excitement because it allows the church to work together. It also gets new members involved.”
Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 132.
PITTSBURG —
