Sundae Showdown: Ithaca vs. Two Rivers

By: Kaitlyn Rich

Everyone has heard the local story of how Ithaca, New York is the birthplace of the ice cream sundae. The fact has even been known to show up on professor's quizzes. But is Ithaca the real home of the sundae? Another small town, almost 900 miles away seems to think differently.

Two Rivers, Wisconsin has been challenging Ithaca's title for years. As the Ithaca Journal reported, the town of Two Rivers claims that the sundae was created there in 1881 by Ed Berners, more than ten years before  Ithaca's creation in 1892 by Chester Platt. However, recently two Ithaca High School students have found new evidence disclaiming Two Rivers contention. The students discovered Berners' obituary which dates the sundaes creation to 1899 and Berners' birth certificate that would have made him 16 at the time of the invention - which many think is unlikely.

While Two Rivers proclaims itself as the "the REAL birthplace of the ice cream sundae", the jury is still out on the verdict. But, regardless of who invented the sundae Ithaca does have a heads up on Two Rivers- Purity Ice Cream. I went last week to see just what was so great about the Ithaca sundae. I ordered the "Black Forest" sundae (black cherry ice cream, warm brownie, delicious) and my good friend, and fellow blogger, Ursula ordered the "Malt-ball Meltdown." In the video below, she explains just what makes the Ithaca sundae so good.