WILMINGTON – The Wilmington Rotary clubs announced that the long-standing Banana Split Festival will be placed on hiatus for 2022 as the two community clubs evaluate the event’s long-term future.

“After the last two years of COVID shutdown, it has become apparent that hosting the festival has stretched the volunteer pool much too thin” said Jay Sewell, President of the Wilmington Rotary Club in a news release Friday.

After consultation between the PM Rotary Club, the Wilmington Rotary Club and the Banana Split Festival Committee, it was determined that the festival would be placed on hiatus for the foreseeable future.

“But Banana Split lovers need not despair, there will be other options to partake in this local dessert classic this summer,” the release stated. “Wilmington Rotary Clubs have committed to taking part in a number of downtown events, offering the same banana split experience on a smaller scale. A banana split booth will appear at several events and still have a Rotary presence.”

For over 25 years, the Banana Split Festival was held the second weekend in June as a co-sponsored festival by both Wilmington Rotary organizations for the purpose of raising funds for local non-profits and Rotary Scholarship Funds.