Each summer on the 26th of August, Popsicle lovers across the United States enjoy National Cherry Popsicle Day.
One evening in 1905, 11-year-old Frank Epperson mixed a batch of soda on his porch and left it with the stirring stick still in it for the night. That evening in San Francisco, California the temperature dipped to record lows and the following morning, Frank discovered instead of soda pop, a frozen treat on a stick. Inspired, he created the fruit-flavored “Popsicle”.
It wasn’t until years later, in 1922 during a fireman’s ball, that he introduced his frosty treat. With the Popsicle’s huge success, Epperson proceeded to make and sell his frozen sweetness at an amusement park in Alameda, California. By 1924, he applied for a patent where he called it the “Epsicle” ice pop. He later renamed it “Popsicle”.
- The Popsicle company claims that its annual sales are over two billion and that its best-selling flavor is cherry.
- On June 22, 2005, Snapple tried to beat the existing Guinness Book of World Records entry of a 1997 Dutch 21-foot ice pop by attempting to erect a 25-foot ice pop in New York City. The 17.5 short tons of frozen juice that had been brought from Edison, New Jersey in a freezer truck melted faster than expected, dashing hopes of a new record. Spectators fled to higher ground as firefighters hosed away the kiwi-strawberry-flavored mess.
- The original Ice Cream Truck Driver was a man in Nebraska with a horse cart who went around selling Popsicles to children.
- Popsicle sticks are made from birch wood and are popular in their own right, often sold by the box for use in craft projects.
- The dual Popsicle featuring two sticks and one Popsicle that could be split in half was introduced during the Great Depression as a way to split the treat across two children for the same cost.
- A character called Popsicle Pete was introduced on the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century radio show in 1939 and was featured in ads, commercials, and other items well into the 1990’s.
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