Today we celebrate a delicious cold treat for summer, Cherry Popsicles.  All popsicle lovers will surely enjoy this special treat and this day is observed annually on August 26^th. Back in the days, Frank Epperson, an 11-year-old boy, invented the original popsicle in 1905 when he accidentally left a powdered lemonade soda in the glass with the stirring stick on it in the cold night.  Epperson found the next morning that the liquid was frozen on the stick.  He popularized ice pops after patenting the concept of “frozen ice on a stick” in 1923 called the Eppsicle.  He made seven fruit flavors and sold it at the amusement park in Neptune Beach and was described as “frozen lollipop” or a “drink on a stick”.  After several years he decided to sell the rights of his invention and the Popsicle brand to Joe Lowe Company in New York City. In the United States and Canada frozen ice on a stick is generically referred to as a popsicle due to the early popularity of the Popsicle brand, and the word has become a generalized trademark to mean any ice pop or freezer pop, regardless of brand. An alternative to buying store brands ice pops, you can always make one and it is really easy to make them at home using different flavors of fruit juice or any freezable beverage.  One classic method involves using ice cube trays and toothpicks but nowadays, you can easily purchase a variety shape of molds in the marketplace. During the hot summertime, eating ice cream and popsicles have been always popular among kids and adults and like most popsicle lovers, everyone has their own favorite.  One of my favorite flavor popsicles is chocolate or orange sometimes called orange creamsicle. Nowadays, you can buy different flavors of popsicles or frozen treat on a stick at your local groceries, but you can always make your own homemade delicious Cherry Popsicle with just a few ingredients.  Below is a good recipe that everyone will surely love.  You could try the recipe below from Knowyourproduce.com that is really easy and fun to make with your kids along. Cherry Popsicles: Ingredients:

• 2 cups frozen cherries
• 1 cup of water
• 1-2 teaspoons honey agave, maple syrup, or sugar

Instructions:

• Mix all ingredients in a high-speed blender and then place it into an ice pop mold.
• Freeze ice pops for 4 hours or overnight.

So, today, celebrate this day by enjoying a stick of Cherry popsicle.  Do you have your own favorite flavor?  Share your favorite on social media using #CherryPopsicleDay.

1939 First televised Major League baseball game

On this day in 1939, the first televised Major League baseball game is broadcast on station W2XBS, the station that was to become WNBC-TV. Announcer Red Barber called the game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York. At the time, television was still in its infancy. Regular programming did not yet exist, and very few people owned television sets–there were only about 400 in the New York area. Not until 1946 did regular network broadcasting catch on in the United States, and only in the mid-1950s did television sets become more common in the American household. In 1939, the World’s Fair–which was being held in New York–became the catalyst for the historic broadcast. The television was one of the fair’s prize exhibits, and organizers believed that the Dodgers-Reds doubleheader on August 26 was the perfect event to showcase America’s grasp on the new technology. (excerpted from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-televised-major-league-baseball-game)