Associated Press and the Herald Times Reporter

ITHACA, N.Y. — Aside from an occasional battle over who'll get the cherry, ice cream sundaes aren't usually in the middle of fights.

Yet Ithaca, N.Y. and Two Rivers are feuding over the origins of the popular dessert.

Ithacans have long believed that drugstore owner Chester Platt served up the first sundae — a concoction of vanilla ice cream, cherry syrup and a candied cherry — in 1892. But a confectionary controversy arose when the Ithaca/Tompkins County Convention and Visitors' Bureau began to research the various claims for an upcoming promotion.

While calling other cities that believe they are the cradle of the sundae, the bureau stirred up Two Rivers. Officials there insist the sundae was really born in Two Rivers in 1881, when Edward Berners served a sundae with chocolate sauce and ice cream at a customer's request.

A newspaper ad from the Ithaca Daily Journal in 1892 backs up the central New York city's claim. The only evidence of Two Rivers' claim comes from writer H.L. Mencken. But sundae expert Michael Turback, author of the book "A Month of Sundaes," said Mencken admitted fabricating the story of Berners' chocolate sundae.

On Monday, Two Rivers officials told Ithaca to stop claiming it is the sundae's birthplace. At Two Rivers' annual "Sundae Thursday" on Thursday night, attendees sang the "Sundae Fight Song," a new tune promoting the city's claim. Officials said they'll send a DVD of the song to Ithaca Mayor Carolyn Peterson.

Officials on both sides said it isn't clear yet how the "sundae war" will play out.

Two Rivers City Manager Greg Buckley said it's OK if Ithaca wants to be known as the first city with a newspaper advertisement documenting the ice cream sundae. As for claiming to be the birthplace of the frozen confection, Buckley says Two Rivers isn't budging.

"This is a matter of municipal pride," Buckley says.

A third city also claims to be home of the ice cream sundae – Evanston, Ill.

Evanston, then known as "Chicago's Heaven" or "Heavenston," was a very strict religious town. The story goes that in the 1890s, the city had laws prohibiting the sale of soda water on Sunday, and they began selling ice cream sodas without the soda. That only left ice cream and syrup, and it came to be known as the ice cream sundae.

HTR staff writer Nkauj Vang contributed to this report.

Sundae Thursday volunteers, from left, Anne Obie, Louie Schultz and LeRoy Borths, all of Two Rivers, scoop up vanilla ice cream for sundaes Thursday during the annual event in downtown Two Rivers. Sue Pischke/HTR