WAPAKONETA — Fifty years ago, the Earth stood still to watch in awe as the crew of Apollo 11 landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. The Apollo program changed the way people looked at themselves, as travelers beyond Earth. The lunar landing is lauded by many as mankind’s most significant accomplishment.
The Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and the 2019 Celebration Committee in Wapakoneta, Ohio, have been granted the privilege of serving a giant MoonPie to their guests.
Weighing 55 pounds, measuring 40-inches in diameter and 6-inch in height and boasting 14 pounds of marshmallow, 6 pounds of chocolate and 45,000 gravity defying calories, the World’s Largest MoonPie will be served to all in attendance — as long as it lasts.
In Wapaoneta, the MoonPie is currently on display in the window of Custom Staffing, 1 W. Auglaize St., and will be served on Friday, July 19, at 7:30 p.m. in downtown Wapakoneta (in the parkway across the street from Custom Staffing).
Chattanooga Bakery was founded in 1902 as a subsidiary of the Mountain City Flour Mill. A fourth generation, family-owned business, the company made nearly 100 snack cake and cookie items under the Lookout™trademark, named after the popular residential and tourist community near Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain.
In 1917, after a brainstorming conversation between a bakery salesman and some Appalachian coal miners, the MoonPie was born, and by the late 1930s was the bakery’s No. 1 seller, a spot it still occupies today.
MoonPies are available in three sizes (Original, Double-Decker and Mini) and six flavors (Chocolate, Vanilla, Banana, Lemon, Orange and Strawberry). Distribution is national, with particular strength in the Southeast and Southwest. The brand can be found in Grocery, Mass, Club, Drug, Convenience, Vending, Food service and a number of specialty retail outlets, including the first MoonPie General Store in Charleston, South Carolina.
The 2019 Committee’s mission is to develop and implement public programs, events, and legacy efforts that reflect the many themes associated with the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon walk, and to ensure that Wapakoneta and Auglaize County are at the forefront of this worldwide commemoration. For more information, visit firstonthemoon.org or the First on the Moon Facebook page.
