From the Archives

Published Jan. 25, 2019

Nearly 5,000 people gathered April 26, 1989, at Poe Field during Communiversity to construct the world’s longest banana split. With 22,000 bananas and 2,000 gallons of ice cream, the banana split was 4.39 miles long and earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. Banana-split connoisseurs paid $3 each for the privilege of consuming foot-long segments. The banana split raised $15,000 for charity. Do you remember this record-breaking day? Let us know at paw@princeton.edu.

University Archives/Princeton University Library

Published in Feb. 6, 2019, Issue

2 Responses

Jon Sichel ’89

5 Years Ago

I was thrilled to see that the World’s Longest Banana Split lives on (From the Archives, Feb. 6). I was one of the organizers of this very big and tasty treat. Note this happened on April 25, 1987, not 1989, during Communiversity. Students from all classes came together for a good cause and to break a world record. We donated all the money to a worthy organization in Princeton, the Family Services Agency.

It took almost a year to plan, with 500 University captains leading the thousands of people who joined in for the fun and bought $3 tickets to make and eat 3 feet of the banana split. In addition to the ingredients PAW listed (22,000 bananas, 2,000 gallons of all flavors of ice cream), we had 16,000 cherries, 17,000 ounces of whipped cream, 17,000 ounces of chocolate sauce, and miles of tubing and aluminum foil to make up the dish, which, according to the Guinness Committee, had to be continuous.

It was a messy day, but we raised money for a good cause and helped strengthen the community and university bond.

John Fleming *63

5 Years Ago

Joan and I were at this orgy, along with about half the children of Mercer County. Your photograph does insufficient justice to the town-gown nature of the event. I forget, or was unaware of at the time, any charge being made for actually chowing down. A ditch-full of banana split, while spectacular to the eye and challenging to the mind, rather alarms the palate. My impression was that the organizers had a major problem in getting rid of the stuff. By the time we left, the field looked something like what might spring to your mind when you try to imagine Culloden or Austerlitz.

But what a great event: even better than the first Earth Day, celebrated in more or less the same spot.

Editor’s note: Several more alumni who attended the event wrote to PAW, including Victoria Wu Rosini ’90 and ’89 classmates Craig Sherman, David Chaumette, and Jane Lyttle Richter. Carlos Romero ’90 and David Chang ’89 posted images of the commemorative T-shirt, shown above. Adam Barr ’88 offered some advice for future record-seekers: “Generous amounts of whipped cream and chocolate syrup, easily dispensed, will cover a multitude of sins.”