LeRoy Pennysaver & News

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - FEBRUARY 28, 2021 by Lynne Belluscio If you’ve read the article in the Batavian, this is old news, but I finally tallied the votes for Jell-O and there was excitement up until the final vote was counted. In case you hadn’t heard, as part of LeRoy’s participation in National Jell-O Week, we ran a “Vote For Your Favorite Flavor” campaign. Normally the Jell-O Gallery asks folks to vote for their favorite flavor and to write in their zip code when they visit the Museum. We’ve been doing this for twenty years. The zip codes were the most important part of the vote, since that gave us the demographics of our visitors. We know that fifty per cent of our visitors come from Western New York - “day trippers”. And fifty percent come from “away.” We also watch the Canadian visitation fluctuate with the value of the dollar. We also know where our advertising and media dollars are working. We also knew, that each year, we would have visitors from almost all fifty states. And the hold outs were usually North or South Dakota. (We kiddingly said, that folks from there either don’t like Jell-O or don’t go on vacation.) The fun part was when the person from the last state would arrive we would present them with a free t-shirt and a basket of gifts from the gift shop. Well, with the closing of the Gallery because of the pandemic we haven’t collected very many votes. And we haven’t collected zip codes. So why not offer on-line voting and we’ll collect zip codes during National Jell-O Week. First, I contacted the fourth grade teachers and asked them to have the kids vote for their favorite flavor. No zip codes needed. Then I posted the request for votes with a zip code on LeRoy Then and Now. And I decided to post on my Facebook page and a Historic Foodways page and the Pavilion page. I knew I could get Hawaii, Alaska and Texas. Had to call my grandson in Montana to ask him to vote. Urged a couple of friends to get votes from New Jersey and Maine. By the time the online voting was through, we had collected votes from all but ten states: North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming. When the votes started coming in there were often stories and comments. One guy was adamant about voting for Celery - - it’s not made anymore. One woman rememberedWhite Sparkling Grape that was offered in 1997. Another voted against Lime and wondered why anyone would vote for it. There were a couple of people who voted for “All Flavors” and two who hated Jell-O and wouldn’t vote for any flavor. Even had a couple of votes for pudding – Butterscotch I think. In the middle of the week, it appeared that Lime had an edge over Raspberry and Cherry. Then Cherry took the lead but on Saturday night it was time to count. Raspberry had taken the lead with 104 votes. Lime was in second with 100 votes. Cherry came in with 93 votes. Orange had a clear fourth place with 70 votes then Strawberry at 61. Lemon, and Black Cherry, Grape, all garnered a couple of votes. But then I added in the 70 votes of the fourth graders and everything changed! Cherry went right to the top with 113 votes. Raspberry and Lime tied at 110. Orange and Strawberry tied at 75 and if the kids had their way, Grape would have come in third. They cast 13 votes for Grape. The kids cast the only votes for Watermelon. So, the mighty fourth graders made the difference. Meanwhile, at the Village Green Nursing Home, there was a coronation happening. LeRoy’s Jell-O Girl, Ruth Harvie, the former GalleryGuide at the Jell-OMuseum, celebrated the anniversary of her election as LeRoyan of the Year, by once again donning her Jell-O crown and sharing many stories. It was all in good fun and at the end of the week, all the Jell-O Jiggler quilt squares were assembled and put in the window of the Town Hall. Plans are already underway for a bigger celebration of National Jell-OWeek in LeRoy in 2022. Next year the National Jell-O Olympics in LeRoy will be underway, which will mark the 20th anniversary of the Salt Lake City Olympics, and once again, the polls will open and perhaps a new flavor will emerge at the top of the list. With that said, be prepared for an influx of votes for Lime. Utah has the highest per capita consumption of Lime Jell-O. The Votes are In