Sundae at the Grand
In small towns, we tend to make our own fun. So one day, some people in Fairhope, Alabama said, “Hey, why don’t we try to make the World’s Longest Ice Cream Sundae?” We all came together – all 1,565 students and almost 300 adult volunteers – at the Marriott Grand Hotel Resort, Golf Club and Spa, just down the road in Point Clear. The Grand Hotel arranged for tables, pelicans flying overhead, and as always, beautiful weather.
The Fairhope Educational and Enrichment Foundation, or “FEEF” sponsored the event as a fund raiser, but mainly as an exciting learning experience for our public school students in Fairhope.
Learning experience? Absolutely. Logistics, mathematics, calculations, writing experiences, language development, not to mention social interaction (can you tell I used to write lesson plans?) were all involved. And that was just for the adults!
On the left, our new Interim Superintendent of Schools for Baldwin County, Robbie Owen, looks on as Congressman Bradley Byrne and School Board – Elect Member Cecil Christenberry talk about the fun day they had at the park a few weeks before.  Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup was a sponsor, and donated 360 bottles of gooey goodness, and we were impressed, but not surprised, that the lovely Dogwood Trail Maids didn’t get a drop of chocolate on their beautiful dresses.
High School students started the line at one end of the Grand Hotel property, sporting style and plenty of humor, and the line got progressively younger and cuter down to the very last Kindergarten student all the way at the other end of the 1,683 foot, 5.5 inch long table. Home Depot donated the very long”bowl” (also known as a foil-lined rain gutter).
With Mobile Bay as a backdrop, we surely set the world’s record for “Most Beautiful Place to Make a Sundae.”
The top left photo shows our popular Fairhope High School Principal, Mr. Jon Cardwell checking on some of his students. Cammie’s Old Dutch Ice Cream generously donated the 560.5 gallons of  handmade, creamy-rich vanilla ice cream. Our favorite Pecan Farmers from B&B Pecans donated 1,564 containers of crushed pecans.Â
An added element of surprise (and a good science lesson, if you want to be a total Pollyanna) was the abundance – no, let’s be honest – SWARM OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS of Love Bugs! They’re only temporary visitors, and are totally harmless, but for some reason, Love Bugs are attracted to the color white, which was all of the beautiful T-shirts and i-c-e-c-r-e-a-m. Oh, my. This darling girl had the right attitude. If you can’t beat them . . . Â make them into a pet.
And speaking of darling, our smallest Southern Belles were sporting their adorable hair bows for the occasion!
Sundae at the Grand was made possible through the fabulous volunteers from FEEF and throughout the community. Everyone came together and supported the effort. Television stations, newspapers, photographers, videographers (and one cute official blogger – wink!) Â all helped document the day. And now, the hundreds of pages of paperwork begin to submit to the official Guinness Book of World Records.
Energetic Daphne Dvorak, our local 89 year old marathon runner and still-working banker, served as one of the judges who made sure everything met the strict standards.
Someone’s little brother was hoping to catch a dropped cherry. Or chasing love bugs.
And just look at all the amazing things FEEF does for our community. When education budgets are tight, it’s a miracle to have a group like FEEF step in and help fill the gaps.
Since we couldn’t convince a pelican to hold the camera, we had a drone on hand to capture the arial view.
Sundae at the Grand was a memorable and unique experience. The students here don’t know how lucky they are to live in a place where parents, local businesses and the entire community supports them so much. A big “Thank you” goes to our wonderful FEEF, all the sponsors and The Grand Hotel for making this the “sweetest” field trip ever!
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CLICK HERE to read my previous story about B&B Pecans.
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Sharing this post with: Coastal Charm
As my Mother would say, “what will they think of next!” I wish I could have been there. Fairhope, you rock!!
Who ate all this? I have to believe someone did — you couldn’t possibly let all that go to waste. Love bugs — is that what all those black things are flying around out there? I remember them from Florida a long time ago, but I thought they came around in May. Oh well…
The ice cream was gobbled up by very patient children who waited, and waited . . . and then dug in! The love bugs are here twice a year. Only a week or two at a time. Weirdest thing ever.
Great coverage on this story! We happened to have chosen that day to walk Zoey on the boardwalk and we were wondering what all the hubbub was about. That looked like it was a lot of fun and it was a beautiful day for it. We never made it all the way to the hotel to see what was going on because our daughter was kind of freaking out about the love bugs. Tis the season for spiders too. Really big scary ones! The south does everything in a big way, especially bugs!
Love the wide variety of great photos you used to illustrate this wonderful event. From drones to hair bows to love bugs to etc., etc.
Well, this is giving me love handles, ha! After reading, I couldn’t resist a big ol’ bowl of Blue Bell banana split ice cream!
Looks like a fun day! It’s a wonderful time of year to be enjoying the outside.
xx,
Sherry
What a day! Certainly a beautiful place to break a record and such a yummy record to break. I love how the whole community joined in. And I love the rain gutter ice cream dish from home Depot!