Latrobe festival kicks off 2-day celebration of city's banana split legacy

Six-year-old Adler Ulrich giggled with delight Friday when she helped comedic magician Steve Haberman turn a rabbit figurine into a whole family of smaller toy bunnies.

The magic show behind Adams Memorial Library was just the beginning of a day out with her brother, Charlie, 3, and their Unity Township family at the Downtown Latrobe Banana Split Celebration.

“We’re going down to the art center now, and we’re definitely getting a banana split,” their dad, Nick, said after the show.

On Friday, the Latrobe Art Center spread across Ligonier Street, to the former home of G.C. Murphy and Dollar General retail stores, where kids could design their own customized banana splits on paper.

The real deal was served up by the Valley Dairy restaurant chain a block away, at a park dedicated to James Hillis Rogers, the father of Latrobe native and children’s television host Fred Rogers.

Parents and grandparents snapped away as kids posed while peering from behind large cut-outs of characters from Rogers’ show.

Valjean Null of Youngwood and her husband, Bill, found a shady spot on a bench, right next to a statue of Fred Rogers, as they enjoyed a midday treat.

“It’s a lovely place to sit and have a banana split,” Valjean Null said. “We wanted one so bad.”

Nick Ulrich said the banana event’s nostalgic aspect is what appeals to him.

The festival was a prelude to more entertainment and activities slated Saturday at Latrobe’s Legion Keener Park. Both days give a tip of the hat to David Strickler, who is said to have created the first documented banana split in 1904 while working as an apprentice pharmacist at Tassell Pharmacy in Latrobe.

Banana split celebrations have brought residents, scattered natives and other visitors into Latrobe since 2013 to recognize the town’s claim to soda-fountain fame — and, of course, to sample the treat that starts with a split tropical fruit and ends with whipped cream and cherries.

After pandemic restrictions moved last summer’s banana festival to a virtual platform, vendors and patrons alike were glad for the return of an in-person event this year.

Alexandra Porterfield, 3, of Jeannette took her best swing at a hole of mini-golf, part of a downtown merchant prize promotion, under the watchful eyes of her mother, Amanda, sister Arabella, 11, and grandmother, Sharon Lauffer of New Alexandria, who is a Latrobe native.

“We always come to the Latrobe events,” Amanda Porterfield said.