Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Saver, a production of iHeartRadio. I'm
Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum, standing in solo for my co host Annie Reese.
Speaker 1: Today she is on break, but we'll be back later
Speaker 1: this week. May the Force be with her always. Today,
Speaker 1: we've got a classic for you on ice cream Sundays.
Speaker 1: Originally published in September of twenty eighteen. I was thinking
Speaker 1: about this one because we are entering this season here
Speaker 1: in the Northern Hemisphere where people enjoy eating cold things
Speaker 1: because it is unforgivably hot outside, and I had forgotten
Speaker 1: how delightful the rivalry in this one really is. So
Speaker 1: without further ado, I will let former Annie and Lauren
Speaker 1: take it.
Speaker 2: Away and welcome to food Stuff. I'm Annie Ree's and
Speaker 2: I'm Lauren Vocal Bomb. And today we've got sort of
Speaker 2: a special episode for you. It's about ice cream Sundays.
Speaker 1: It's a little different, uh huh.
Speaker 2: We're going to present it as sort of a trial. Yeah,
Speaker 2: our first food stuff trial. I hope there's a lot
Speaker 2: of Law and Order sound effects? Oh yeah, can we
Speaker 2: do that? I actually never seen Law and Order, but
Speaker 2: I know the sound effect.
Speaker 1: But that's all.
Speaker 2: We need to get it right there. Yeah, just make
Speaker 2: that occasionally pick your spots. But okay, I think we'll
Speaker 2: really add to it.
Speaker 1: So surely people were topping their ice cream with like
Speaker 1: stuff before the ice cream Sunday became a whole thing.
Speaker 2: Surely it just makes sense.
Speaker 1: Really, Oh yeah, I mean ice cream is delicious, other
Speaker 1: stuff is delicious. Put them together.
Speaker 2: Easy as pie.
Speaker 1: There's no put ice cream easiest pie a la mode.
Speaker 1: But a Sunday is something specific. It is which brings
Speaker 1: us to our question what is it?
Speaker 2: Well, I would say, okay, this is Lauren's.
Speaker 1: Okay, I would say, then ice cream Sunday requires at
Speaker 1: least two scoops of ice cream if it's scooped. If not,
Speaker 1: then I guess that just goes right out the window.
Speaker 1: Soft syruf anyway, two scoops of ice cream, some kind
Speaker 1: of sweet syrup or other like liquid sauce like hot
Speaker 1: fudge as a topping, and then a second kind of
Speaker 1: topping for like texture or just punctuation like sprinkles or
Speaker 1: chopped nuts or like a marachino cherry on top. Some people,
Speaker 1: like Dairy Queen would a search that you don't need
Speaker 1: anything after that that liquid topping for it to be
Speaker 1: a Sunday. Their base Sunday is just ice cream and
Speaker 1: liquid topping. Everything else costs extra.
Speaker 2: I see, But anyway, you're not mad about that at all.
Speaker 1: I'm not mad about it. I just don't think that
Speaker 1: it's a Sunday unless it has two distinct tops things.
Speaker 2: Okay, I see, okay.
Speaker 1: But anyway, after those basic needs are met, you've got
Speaker 1: a lot of room for possibilities. You know, whipped cream,
Speaker 1: candy of whatever kind, whole or chopped fresh fruit, fruit compot,
Speaker 1: that chocolate sauce that you know hardens when it hits
Speaker 1: the ice cream. Oh, I kind of love that stuff,
Speaker 1: even though it creeps me out, don't We.
Speaker 2: All love foods that are just kind of creepy when
Speaker 2: we think about them. Yep, yep. As you can imagine,
Speaker 2: we humans add all sorts of toppings to Sundays these days,
Speaker 2: from fries in Japan to bacon, and we also make
Speaker 2: huge ones like the Great Pyramid from Cabots ice Cream
Speaker 2: in Massachusetts. It comes in a bowl almost two feet
Speaker 2: in diameter, loaded with sixty pints of ice cream pints,
Speaker 2: sixty pints, sixty pints, and twelve quarts of toppings. Oh
Speaker 2: my goodness, and on top of those toppings, you add
Speaker 2: what I would call other toppings, but they don't whipped cream, nuts, marshmallows,
Speaker 2: and a cherry on top. And allegedly it serves you
Speaker 2: and one hundred and seventy f or of your pals.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, I don't have one hundred and seventy four friends.
Speaker 1: I don't think not that I want to eat a
Speaker 1: single bowl of ice cream with.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna get multiple bowls if I got this thing.
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna be straight with everybody.
Speaker 1: I've I've shared a very large ice cream Sunday with
Speaker 1: maybe like six of my friends. There was a place
Speaker 1: that we went to in high school down by the
Speaker 1: beach that had very large Sundays. But and I felt
Speaker 1: fancy as heck the time that that happened.
Speaker 2: That sounds very fancy. That sounds like something I've only
Speaker 2: seen in movies.
Speaker 1: Oh right, yeah, yeah, I did not wear my Bobby Sucks,
Speaker 1: but I nonetheless felt Yes, technically, banana splits and parfas
Speaker 1: stuff like that are also Sundays. It's sort of like
Speaker 1: a square rhombus kind of situation. Nutrition wise, they're like
Speaker 1: the epitome of a treat.
Speaker 2: I mean, if you think about their name. We're going
Speaker 2: to get into this in a little bit. Sunday it's
Speaker 2: something special one day a week. I wish I had know.
Speaker 2: I wish I'd thought of that as a kid, and
Speaker 2: I could have made that argument better, but I didn't.
Speaker 2: I didn't.
Speaker 1: It does depend highly on what kind of ice cream
Speaker 1: and toppings you involved there. It's your mileage will definitely
Speaker 1: very It's true.
Speaker 2: My go to at DQ Dairy Queen was hot fudge Sunday,
Speaker 2: hot fudge sauce and cons that was it. Ooh nice, simple, simple.
Speaker 1: I like a crunch Yeah, but.
Speaker 2: Rememb when we get that frozen yogurt and I put
Speaker 2: every topic on.
Speaker 1: Every single one, I'm still upset about it.
Speaker 2: I am too. Do we have we have some numbers?
Speaker 2: We do?
Speaker 1: We do? Oh, we have a bunch of delightful numbers.
Speaker 2: So okay.
Speaker 1: According to a Yahoo survey of about one thousand representative
Speaker 1: Americans over the age of thirteen or thirteen and over anyway,
Speaker 1: ice cream is America's favorite dessert, and twenty one percent
Speaker 1: of us prefer it to be in Sunday format.
Speaker 2: Huh.
Speaker 1: As of twenty fifteen, the Guinness World Record for the
Speaker 1: largest ice cream Sunday was made in Canada. It weighed
Speaker 1: twenty four point nine to one metric tons that's almost
Speaker 1: fifty five thousand pounds. About four and a half tons
Speaker 1: of that was syrup.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1: And according to Guinness, it looked quote not unlike a
Speaker 1: dairy based tribute to Jaba the Hut.
Speaker 2: Sunday, the hut there, and they.
Speaker 1: Were not lying. It kind of did like a pink
Speaker 1: pink job of the hut. Guinness also reports a record
Speaker 1: for the longest ever ice cream dessert, a Sunday made
Speaker 1: in Texas, with about eight hundred gallons of ice cream,
Speaker 1: two thousand cans of whip cream, twenty five pounds of sprinkles,
Speaker 1: and twenty thousand cherries. It stretched almost one four hundred
Speaker 1: meters in length. That's about forty five hundred feet.
Speaker 2: I had an aunt that told me, and I think
Speaker 2: you've redne a brain stuff episode about this, that dairy
Speaker 2: products gave you nightmares. Oh, and she used to tell
Speaker 2: me if I had too much ice cream ry to
Speaker 2: have bad dreams. I think she just didn't want me
Speaker 2: to ice email like ten PM. But can you imagine
Speaker 2: the bad dreams you'd have if you had this Lodge
Speaker 2: ice cream.
Speaker 1: It served a lot of people.
Speaker 2: Well, I hope so. I imagine you'd die if you
Speaker 2: try to.
Speaker 1: Oh goodness, yeah, that's not.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 1: Guinness's most expensive dessert on record is also an ice
Speaker 1: cream Sunday, a chocolate Sunday offered for twenty five thousand
Speaker 1: dollars at a New York City restaurant in two thousand
Speaker 1: and seven. It included a blend of twenty eight premium
Speaker 1: cocos and a golden spoon encrusted with diamonds that was
Speaker 1: the buyers to keep.
Speaker 2: Well. I guess different strokes for different folks.
Speaker 1: And apparently ice cream Sundays are quite posh in New
Speaker 1: York City. This year, just an April, food writer Pete
Speaker 1: Wells published an article in The New Yorker titled the
Speaker 1: ice Cream Sunday Must be Stopped. It complained that like nostalgic,
Speaker 1: ice cream Sundays at restaurants are generally as insipid as
Speaker 1: they are ubiquitous. He was real mad at them.
Speaker 2: Huh. It's interesting because to me, I don't like if
Speaker 2: I'm at an ice cream restaurant, I don't order the Sunday,
Speaker 2: but I do get ice cream with two toppings, which
Speaker 2: it's just in my head. I don't think of it
Speaker 2: as a Sunday, but I guess it is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that. Yeah, if I'm going to order
Speaker 1: ice cream from an ice cream place, I definitely get
Speaker 1: a liquid topping and then a crunchy topping for texture.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going to have to reevaluate my Sunday definition.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, questioning. Thanks, Yeah, but this is an episode
Speaker 1: of many questions.
Speaker 2: It is it is, and we're.
Speaker 1: Going to get into that after we get back from
Speaker 1: quick break for our sponsor.
Speaker 2: And we're back. Thank you sponsors.
Speaker 1: Yes, thank you.
Speaker 2: So now our trial begins. Yes, yes, because the ice
Speaker 2: cream Sunday is the source of much contention. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: people fight over it. There are songs, like fight songs.
Speaker 2: There are official legal documents in what has been dubbed
Speaker 2: the Sunday Wars. The name is a source of debate too,
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, Like.
Speaker 1: Like why it's called a Sunday, that's correct, Laurence. Why
Speaker 1: it's spelled with that E instead of a Y. Yes,
Speaker 1: or sometimes with an I H monster.
Speaker 2: Yes, so the name. There's The popular, possibly apocryphal story
Speaker 2: is that the blue laws here in the States, and
Speaker 2: these are laws prohibiting certain activities on Sundays for religious reasons.
Speaker 2: Did not allow for ice cream sodas on Sundays because
Speaker 2: of there and this is a quote a document somewhere frilliness.
Speaker 2: No frilliness on Sundays. No, no clergy preached against quote
Speaker 2: sucking soda on the Sabbath and any day really, but
Speaker 2: especially on the Sabbath. So the Sunday with an E,
Speaker 2: along with names like the Sunday sund I and Psalm
Speaker 2: Dso n Dhi were used to maybe lessen the angry
Speaker 2: response from the religious community who might not appreciate this
Speaker 2: luxurious treat being named after their holy day. I see.
Speaker 2: In nineteen forty five, a famous newspaper columnist by the
Speaker 2: name of H. L. Menca And published a book called
Speaker 2: The American Language Supplement One. It included an entry about
Speaker 2: the suffix day Dae, which read quote most plausible of
Speaker 2: their theories abscribes the introduction of the Sunday itself to
Speaker 2: George Hallower of Marshall, Illinois, and the invention of its
Speaker 2: name to George Giffy or Jiffy, of man Manatoc, Wisconsin.
Speaker 2: He also alleged that the origins of the Sunday in
Speaker 2: Wisconsin came before all other origin stories which he probably
Speaker 2: heard this story in Wisconsin, and this was a shot
Speaker 2: fired in the Sunday wars.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, because people are serious about their origin stories
Speaker 1: of the Sunday.
Speaker 2: They are so serious, deadly serious. Oh no, perhaps not
Speaker 2: that serious.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's deadly, but quite series.
Speaker 2: Quite serious. Three towns claimed to be the home of
Speaker 2: the first ice cream Sunday, although one of those is
Speaker 2: more technical. And we present before you the evidence. You
Speaker 2: must decide for yourself.
Speaker 1: Undone, Yes, all right.
Speaker 2: Origin story one, two Rivers, Wisconsin, current population two thousand. First,
Speaker 2: all right. In eighteen eighty one, George Hallower walked into
Speaker 2: ed Berner's ice cream parlor and asked the owner, Edward Burners,
Speaker 2: for an ice cream soda. One problem though it was
Speaker 2: a Sunday, Sunday to day, Sunday the day.
Speaker 1: Oh no, you can't drink a soda on a Sunday.
Speaker 2: That's right, Lauren, you can't. Undeterred, mister Berners came up
Speaker 2: with a solution, a dish full of ice cream topped
Speaker 2: with chocolate syrup. This was unique because at the time,
Speaker 2: chocolate syrup was reserved for making flavored ice cream sodas.
Speaker 2: Hallower and Burners both were impressed with this treat, and
Speaker 2: Burners made it a special at his store for the
Speaker 2: price of one nickel. The dessert was a huge hit.
Speaker 2: Not too much evidence exists to back this up, though.
Speaker 2: One thing the town likes to bring up is a
Speaker 2: nineteen twenty nine interview published in the Two Rivers Reporter
Speaker 2: newspaper with Edward Berners. In the article, Burners describes how
Speaker 2: the Sunday came to be allegedly quote, one night, Halloa
Speaker 2: dropped in and ordered a dish of ice cream. As
Speaker 2: I was serving it, he spied a bottle of chocolate
Speaker 2: syrup on the backbar, which I use for making sodas.
Speaker 2: Why don't you put some of that chocolate on a
Speaker 2: ice cream, he asked. You don't want to ruin the
Speaker 2: flavor of the ice cream, I protested, but Hallara answered,
Speaker 2: I'll try anything once, and I poured it on the chocolate.
Speaker 2: Hallara liked it, and the ice cream Sunday was born.
Speaker 2: Twist though, oh no, yeah, there are a lot of
Speaker 2: twists in this episode of Your Prepared. In eighteen eighty one,
Speaker 2: which is when Berner's claims this went down, he would
Speaker 2: have been eighteen years old, which is a bit young
Speaker 2: to own your own store.
Speaker 1: Oh I see.
Speaker 2: Even his obituary acknowledged that he quote claimed to be
Speaker 2: the originator of the ice cream Sunday. The Wisconsin State
Speaker 2: Historical Society, though, does not have any such doubt. They
Speaker 2: officially recognized Two Rivers as the home of the first Sunday.
Speaker 2: A plaque was put up in nineteen seventy three to
Speaker 2: make clear to any who would dare a question that
Speaker 2: Two Rivers is in fact the true birthplace of the
Speaker 2: ice cream Sunday quote. In eighteen eighty one, George Hollower
Speaker 2: asked Edward Z. Berner, the owner of a soda fountain
Speaker 2: at fourteen oh four fifteenth Street, to top a dish
Speaker 2: of ice cream with chocolate syrup with chocolate sauce. Hitherto
Speaker 2: used only for ice cream sodas. The concoction cost a
Speaker 2: nickel and soon became very popular, but was sold only
Speaker 2: on Sundays. One day, a ten year old girl insisted
Speaker 2: she had a dish of ice cream with that stuff
Speaker 2: on top, saying they could pretend it was Sunday. After that,
Speaker 2: the confection was sold every day, and many flavors, it
Speaker 2: lost its Sunday only association to be called in all
Speaker 2: caps ice creams Sunday when a glassware salesman plays an
Speaker 2: order with his company for the long canoe shaped dishes
Speaker 2: in which it was served as Sunday dishes.
Speaker 1: And there you have it.
Speaker 2: That's pretty, that's legit, but also it bold.
Speaker 1: It uses capslock. I mean, I don't know what's legit
Speaker 1: outside of the use of capslock.
Speaker 2: Who knows. It's very serious. Indeed, visitors to the town
Speaker 2: can also visit a replica of Ed Berner's ice cream
Speaker 2: parlor at the Washington House Hotel Museum and it's always
Speaker 2: listeners if you have been there.
Speaker 1: Oh, please send pictures, please placeies please. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Depending on the source, Manachewaik, Wisconsin might come up in
Speaker 2: this origin story as well as mentioned in that Menen
Speaker 2: piece we talked about it the top minutes back. Competitor
Speaker 2: of Berner's, George Jiffy or Giffe, started serving the same
Speaker 2: ice cream treat. However, he thought five cents was too cheap,
Speaker 2: so he sold it only on Sundays, and because of
Speaker 2: that fact, it started to be known as the Sunday
Speaker 2: The profits became too good to sell only once a week,
Speaker 2: so he changed the name to Sunday with an E
Speaker 2: and sold it on any old day.
Speaker 1: Okay, Okay, Well, so that's that's our So that's our
Speaker 1: first origin story. Yep, Okay. We've got a competitor, and
Speaker 1: that competitor is Ithaca, New York. Current population seven hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty six.
Speaker 2: So a bit bigger than two rivers, A.
Speaker 1: Little bit bigger, a little bit bigger. This is a
Speaker 1: city that's up in the western bit of New York State,
Speaker 1: in the Finger Lakes region. It's right on Cyoga Lake,
Speaker 1: and Cornell University lives here. It lived there back when
Speaker 1: Ithaca's story about the ice cream Sunday began. They claimed
Speaker 1: to have such detailed documentation that they can nearly pinpoint
Speaker 1: the hour that the first Sunday was served.
Speaker 2: Ooh oh oh uh huh.
Speaker 1: So April third, eighteen ninety two, it's a Sunday. The
Speaker 1: reverend of the local Unitarian church, one John M. Scott,
Speaker 1: visited the Plat and cult pharmacy after services. This was
Speaker 1: a common occurrence. Mister Platt, that's Chester c. Plat for
Speaker 1: your information, was the church's treasurer, so they often met
Speaker 1: up after services. To talk about stuff. Platt had his
Speaker 1: fountain clerks scoop them up two bowls of an el
Speaker 1: ice cream, and then Platt stopped and topped each with
Speaker 1: cherry syrup and a candied cherry.
Speaker 2: Oh.
Speaker 1: And Platt and Scott found the result so tasty and
Speaker 1: so attractive that they decided to name the dish. They
Speaker 1: were like, this has to have a name. It got
Speaker 1: too yeah, and Scott suggested that they name it for
Speaker 1: the day that it was created, the Cherry Sunday Ah.
Speaker 1: Two days later, an ad ran in the Ithaca Daily
Speaker 1: Journal for a Cherry Sunday, a new ten cent ice
Speaker 1: cream novelty served only at Platin Cult's famous day and
Speaker 1: night soda fountain.
Speaker 2: They really didn't waste any time. I'm selling that.
Speaker 1: No, Wow, immediately Yeah, like like place the ad the
Speaker 1: next day runs the day after that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And this tale has its own Depression era corroboration. In
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty six, apparently having read newspaper articles with other
Speaker 1: origins of the Sunday, the clerk from Platin could who
Speaker 1: was there that day, Mister DeForest Christians wrote into an
Speaker 1: Ithaca Historian with his version of the tale.
Speaker 2: As told above. So intrigue, Yes, Sunday intrigue. But we
Speaker 2: have another we have another claim.
Speaker 1: Oh goodness.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and this one comes to us from Evanston, Illinois,
Speaker 2: current population seventy four thousand, eight hundred and ninety five.
Speaker 2: And this is where Northwestern University is, which a good
Speaker 2: friend of mine went to and I visited to her
Speaker 2: a lot. So I have been to Evanston, Illinois. Okay,
Speaker 2: have you had a Sunday there? Oh?
Speaker 1: I did.
Speaker 2: It was peanut butter Maurice's cup anywhere cream and I
Speaker 2: have a picture of me eating it, and I look
Speaker 2: so happy. I was so happy.
Speaker 1: You look happy just thinking about it.
Speaker 2: I am. Towards the end though, I was not as
Speaker 2: happy because it was quite sweet. But yeah, it's very enjoyable.
Speaker 2: So this is the one that I mentioned. Is more technical.
Speaker 2: They could have been a condenda. They don't really claim
Speaker 2: to be the creator of the Sunday the thing, but
Speaker 2: they do claim ownership of the name ice cream Sunday. Okay,
Speaker 2: that they say they coined in the eighteen nineties. At
Speaker 2: the time, Evanston was not Evanston, but Chicago's heaven or Heavenstown.
Speaker 2: Heavenstown was not heaven though at least not for soda lovers.
Speaker 2: They led the charge when it came to outlawing the
Speaker 2: Sunday sona menace, as they called it. As the name
Speaker 2: might suggest, they were pretty religious. In Heavenstown, they had
Speaker 2: an ordinance on the books making the sale of ice
Speaker 2: cream sodas against the rules. We'll say on Sunday. Garwood's
Speaker 2: Drugstore came up with work around selling an ice cream
Speaker 2: soda without the soda on Sundays, so just the ice
Speaker 2: cream and the syrup aka a Sunday. The local Christian
Speaker 2: Women's Temperance Union okayed it, saying it was better than outcaul. Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: But that's not all. Oh no, Sunday Sunday Sunday. So
Speaker 2: we have origin story four through eight and plus even more. Buffalo, Cleveland,
Speaker 2: New Orleans, and many other cities also say they invented
Speaker 2: the Sunday but until they present more evidence, they're gonna
Speaker 2: have to take a back seat.
Speaker 1: M m.
Speaker 2: And speaking of evidence, we have some. Oh yeah, but
Speaker 2: first we have one more quick break for a word
Speaker 2: from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes,
Speaker 2: thank you. Our first bit of evidence comes to us
Speaker 2: from the Two Rivers City Council, and they released a
Speaker 2: resolution in two thousand and six titled Resolution formally challenging
Speaker 2: the City of Ithaca, New York's claim to be quote
Speaker 2: birthplace of the ice cream Sunday.
Speaker 1: This is this is a legal resolution. It is it
Speaker 1: was I think mostly in good fun. I think mostly,
Speaker 1: But they like they like sent it to the Mayor
Speaker 1: of Ithaca.
Speaker 2: I think they did, indeed.
Speaker 1: And as it is beautiful, we're going to read a
Speaker 1: few excerpts from it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I just want you to keep in mind
Speaker 2: that we trim this down quite a bit.
Speaker 1: Ye, this is not the entire thing.
Speaker 2: No, No, it went on far longer, far longer. Whereas
Speaker 2: it is only fitting and proper that the coolest city
Speaker 2: in America's dairyland be afforded sole possession of this title.
Speaker 1: And whereas it has recently come to our attention that Ithaca,
Speaker 1: New York, not content with just promoting its status is
Speaker 1: home to one of America's great universities in the Finger
Speaker 1: Lakes region of beautiful Upstate New York, has once again
Speaker 1: dusted off its claim to be birthplace of the ice
Speaker 1: cream Sunday.
Speaker 2: Whereas Ithaca's experience with ice cream Sundays is a relatively
Speaker 2: recent vintage, dating to Chester Platt's fabrication of a cherry
Speaker 2: Sunday at his drugstore Soda Fountain in eighteen ninety two,
Speaker 2: a full eleven years after Ed Berner's Sundays began broadening
Speaker 2: children's smiles and adults wastelines in our community on the
Speaker 2: shore of Lake Michigan.
Speaker 1: Now, therefore, be it resolved that the City of Two
Speaker 1: Rivers reasserts its status as the birthplace of the ice
Speaker 1: cream Sunday.
Speaker 2: Be it further resolved that the City of Ithaca is
Speaker 2: hereby directed to cease and assist from its continued claims
Speaker 2: of being birthplace of the ice cream Sunday, lest the
Speaker 2: City of Two Rivers be forced to take further action
Speaker 2: to set the historical record straight.
Speaker 1: And be it further resolved that the good citizens of
Speaker 1: Ithaca are urged to henceforth direct their energies to more
Speaker 1: appropriate pursuits like cheering on the athletic teams of Cornell
Speaker 1: University and celebrating the beauty of the Finger Lakes region,
Speaker 1: while leaving ice Cream Sundays to the town that knows
Speaker 1: them best, Two Rivers, Wisconsin, who.
Speaker 2: They are not joking around. It's a beautifully pinned.
Speaker 1: It, is it? You know? I couldn't. I couldn't have
Speaker 1: written that. I don't have the legal wherewithal.
Speaker 2: But Ithaca did not take this lying down. The next year,
Speaker 2: in two thousand and seven, two Ithaca High School senior
Speaker 2: years interning at the History Center in Tompkins County, spent
Speaker 2: six months scouring documents to prove that Ithaca is the
Speaker 2: rightful heir to the Sunday throne. Their search for out
Speaker 2: several relevant pieces of information. Yes. Exhibit A the ad
Speaker 2: published on April fifth, eighteen ninety two, in the Ithaca
Speaker 2: Daily Journal. This is the oldest record of the ice
Speaker 2: cream Sunday that we know of.
Speaker 1: And Exhibit A one because there's there's another ad a
Speaker 1: couple months later from May twenty eighth, eighteen ninety two,
Speaker 1: for a strawberry Sunday made and served exactly right at
Speaker 1: the Soda Fountain of Platin.
Speaker 2: Cult exactly clear write indeed. Exhibit B a brief from
Speaker 2: the Ithaca Daily Journal's town Talk section published April eleventh,
Speaker 2: eighteen ninety two. This confirms the date, time, location, and
Speaker 2: ingredients of the cherry Sunday.
Speaker 1: Exhibit C the original Platin Cult Pharmacy ledger books found
Speaker 1: buried in the archives of Cornell University. These ledgers indicate
Speaker 1: that the pharmacy had all the makings for their Cherry
Speaker 1: Sunday by the early eighteen nineties, and also back up
Speaker 1: Christensen's the store clerks story concerning the dates of his
Speaker 1: employment at the pharmacy.
Speaker 2: Exhibit D the letter written by DeForest Christians in nineteen
Speaker 2: thirty six found in the archives of the History Center
Speaker 2: in Tompkins County. And Christians also said that the Sunday
Speaker 2: was popular with Cornell students and that it must have
Speaker 2: spread to other places when they went home for the
Speaker 2: holidays or graduated and moved away.
Speaker 1: And Exhibit E a letter from one William Henderson, a Washington,
Speaker 1: d c. Trademark attorney, to Platin Cult Pharmacy, dated eighteen
Speaker 1: ninety four. The letter confirms that the Sunday not only
Speaker 1: existed at the pharmacy by eighteen ninety four, but had
Speaker 1: reached a level of popularity that Platin Cult were seeking
Speaker 1: a national trademark. They did not get the trademark, but
Speaker 1: a decade later Sundays would be available around the world,
Speaker 1: and the issue with the trademark was this at a
Speaker 1: national level. You needed an internationally traded product in order
Speaker 1: to procure a trademark. So the attorney who wrote the
Speaker 1: letters suggested the Platin cult contact instead of New York
Speaker 1: State Department about local protections.
Speaker 2: And you might be thinking, in the face of all
Speaker 2: of this documentation and evidence, Two Rivers might bow out Nope, no, nope.
Speaker 2: In fact, they well, basically their response was maybe it
Speaker 2: did happen, but you can't prove it didn't. If I
Speaker 2: had to sum it up. One residents of Twos sent
Speaker 2: the mayor of Ithaca postcards, including one from the ghost
Speaker 2: of Ed Burners himself. Ah, or that's what they had
Speaker 2: just read. Anyway. The mayor also received a DVD containing
Speaker 2: a Sunday fight song performed by the proud people of
Speaker 2: Two Rivers.
Speaker 1: It's to the tune of Wisconsin State's fight song called
Speaker 1: on Wisconsin, and the excellent podcast Food non Fiction It's
Speaker 1: a terrific show on the radio Public Network also has
Speaker 1: an episode about this whole Sunday fight thing, and they
Speaker 1: tracked down a copy of this recording in Two Rivers
Speaker 1: in Wisconsin history was made and our pride in that
Speaker 1: first Sunday. It will never fade made right here by
Speaker 1: old Ed Berner's eighteen eighty one. Now we celebrate that
Speaker 1: Sunday and have lots of fun. Others try to claim
Speaker 1: the Sunday started in their towns, but the story of
Speaker 1: our Sunday turns smiles into frowns. Top with chocolate or
Speaker 1: with cherries and with lots of nuts. Try to claim
Speaker 1: our Sunday, and we'll kick you in your butts.
Speaker 2: Whoa, it takes a turn there, it really did. It
Speaker 2: was all happiness and smiles and then kicking your mind.
Speaker 2: That sounds like Wisconsin. My ex is he was from Wisconsin,
Speaker 2: so I've been several times. Uh huh. And he actually
Speaker 2: was the one that got me turned onto this whole
Speaker 2: Sunday debate because he has been down to Two Rivers.
Speaker 1: Oh yeahm m.
Speaker 2: He did a report on it in elementary school. That's
Speaker 2: so cute. Yeah. But if AKA didn't back down from
Speaker 2: this either, no, nope. In response, they penned their own
Speaker 2: Sunday fight song called Two Rivers Police.
Speaker 1: And this one is sung to the tune of Moon
Speaker 1: River if you're familiar with.
Speaker 2: That, Yes, And they mentioned this on their tourism website.
Speaker 2: Just by the way they have this excerpt, two Rivers,
Speaker 2: Why live in denial? The story you compile won't play.
Speaker 2: You're sign maker, a truth faker. Without Sunday proof, your
Speaker 2: claims melting away. Ed Berner's off to fool the world.
Speaker 2: There's such a lot of fools, you see, though sometimes
Speaker 2: the truth may offend. Still you can pretend, my sweet
Speaker 2: Wisconsin friend, two rivers, please, so we'll enter that into
Speaker 2: the the evidence. Yeah, two songs, two Sunday fight songs.
Speaker 2: Oh and yeah, so I mean verdict, the Sunday war
Speaker 2: wages on. I don't know that it will ever come
Speaker 2: to an end. What if they had a big ice
Speaker 2: cream food fight.
Speaker 1: Oh that sounds extremely messy.
Speaker 2: Yes it does.
Speaker 1: Annie has a twinkle in her eye.
Speaker 2: You guys, I want to be like some kind of
Speaker 2: officiator or judge of this. This one was a lot
Speaker 2: of fun to do. It also, let us practice and uh,
Speaker 2: I guess demonstrates everyone why we aren't lawyers.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, no, certainly that's not no, not that organized.
Speaker 2: No, but we did have fun dramatically reading court documents
Speaker 2: about the ideas.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, if anyone ever wants that to happen, let us.
Speaker 2: Know, yeah, but please let us know where you stand
Speaker 2: on this ice cream Sunday debate.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I think you know, it sounds like
Speaker 1: one of those like like Zeitgeist things that kind of
Speaker 1: just like kind of like came up out of, you know,
Speaker 1: the human consciousness. Around that time. People had ice cream,
Speaker 1: they had syrups, they put them together. They were delicious.
Speaker 2: It's true, but I think I think it's I don't know.
Speaker 2: Oh no, the two Rivers people are gonna send as
Speaker 2: a DVD. Actually, I would love that, right.
Speaker 1: Oh sounds so delightful, it does. That brings us to
Speaker 1: the end of this classic episode. We hope you enjoyed
Speaker 1: revisiting it as much as we did. If you've been
Speaker 1: to any of these places, or if you have any
Speaker 1: stories or strong opinions about Sundays, we would love to
Speaker 1: hear them. You can email us at Hello atsaverpod dot com,
Speaker 1: or find us on social media. We are on Instagram
Speaker 1: and blue Sky at Saverpod, and we would love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. Save is a production of iHeartRadio. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, you can visit the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows. Thanks as always to our superproducers Dylan Fagan
Speaker 1: and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we
Speaker 1: hope that lots more good things are coming your way.