J E L L...O!

When my friend Mary Beth, from NYC, discovered that there was a JELL-O Gallery near Rochester, she made me promise that I would take her. Many of us probably think of JELL-O as comfort food our moms gave us as children when we were sick. Or if we're at a certain age, we think of it as one of the few things you can eat before having a, um, certain procedure... Either way, it's not a great association! I also think of it as something some people used to bury fruit in in an attempt to make a fun dessert (I always thought it was pretty disgusting).

The JELL-O Gallery is actually in LeRoy, about halfway between Rochester and Buffalo. (LeRoy was in the media a while back for an outbreak of mass hysteria.)  When Mary Beth and I visited, a couple of years ago, we were greeted by two cheerful women, one of whom escorted us into the gallery and explained the history of JELL-O, from its invention in 1897, and the initial problems marketing the product, to its eventual success in 1907, and its merger with Postem, which then became General Foods. JELL-O is now owned by Kraft Heinz, and unfortunately for Rochester, production was moved to Delaware in 1964 (for space as well as tax reasons). It was clear to us, as she narrated the tale of the gelatin's development, that she loved her job. The exhibits were interesting, but the best part of the gallery was the video of the various commercials for JELL-O over the years. Bill Cosby was the JELL-O star, of course. Other recognizable actors also took their turn advertising the product, including Jack Benny, Lucille Ball, Andy Griffith, and a very young Lindsay Lohan.

There weren't many visitors the day we were there (and we suspected that's probably normal).  The downstairs "transportation exhibit" of old automobiles and the like was less interesting. We did spend some time in the gift shop, though. You couldn't buy any actual JELL-O at the gallery, but you could buy JELL-O shot glasses (which seems a bit silly, when little paper cups are easier to use for the purpose...).

one of the few references left to Cosby...

So when my brother visited for the holidays recently, I thought it would be interesting to go back and see whether the recent controversy surrounding Bill Cosby had affected the exhibit. Sadly, the video was indeed gone, and most evidence of Cosby's link to the product had been purged, as if his 25 years as spokesman hadn't existed. The young lady who introduced the gallery to us seemed fairly apologetic, but eagerly offered that there was now a wall of molds in its place. It was a poor substitute, but if you hadn't visited the museum before (and really, who would normally visit this odd little place more than once?), you wouldn't notice its absence, although his general absence from the museum is notable. The gift shop had also evolved - gone were the JELLO-shot glasses, replaced by boxes of different flavored JELL-O. My brother bought a brain JELL-O mold, and almost convinced me to buy a large certificate attesting to my visit (because it was signed by Cosby...).

To round out our trip, we stopped on the return drive to take a few snaps of some Barn Quilts. Apparently there are dozens of these dotted around town, as part of a 2012 town bicentennial project. It was an amusing afternoon out, but it wouldn't bear repeating.