...They all screamed for ice cream

Halloween candy might be on most people’s minds as they turn the calendar to October. But it’ll be hard for residents at one Missouri nursing home to top the sweet treat they had in the dog days of summer.

Residents and staff at the 99-bed Clark County Nursing Home in Kahoka, MO, celebrated “Banana Split Day” in August by creating a 50-foot version of the classic sundae. 

The delicious creation came together in the facility’s back parking lot, explains Activity Director Delma Smith. Staff laid lengths of foil-covered gutter across tables, then added ice cream and all the toppings in front of an appreciative crowd of residents and family members.

Smith credits a colleague in the Activities Directors Association of Missouri with inspiring the idea. She says that careful planning paid off because the well-coordinated staff could work quickly in the heat before the ice cream melted. Workers from every department took part.

(Pre-scoop the ice cream, Smith advises other facilities thinking about a similar activity.)

The only thing more fun than watching the split come together may have been eating it afterward. 

“As quick as we got finished, we brought all the residents up and served it. They talked about it for days,” Smith says. “We’re already planning to do it next summer.”