What's Happening in Cincinnati, OH…

Cincinnati has found a way to encourage people to find common ground—meet over ice cream.

The longest sundae in the history of Cincinnati was constructed recently at Cincinnati's Westwood United Methodist Church. The church had issued a challenge to find ways to bring community members together, and a fifth grader had the idea of using ice cream in that effort.

According to Jack Crego, who came up with the idea, he thought of it because everyone like ice cream. Second, he said ice cream socials take place all the time all over the world, so he wondered why they couldn't have one in Cincinnati.

Kroger donated over 100 gallons of ice cream to the effort, and the Cincinnati Fire Department came along for the fun as well. Home Depot joined in, giving 715 feet of gutter—a trough to hold all that ice cream—to organizers of the event. After everyone finishes the ice cream, the gutter will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.

Lee Strawhun, the pastor of the church, said the mammoth ice cream sundae was a way to say, we want the community and the church to come together. The event was part of Westwood Second Saturdays, which are events held in the Westwood district the second Saturday of the month. The city routinely blocks off streets for the event. Poster printing can be used in cases like this to warn drivers of the closure.