Not sure if I've ever told this story, but this is a good place to do it.
In 1971 I was in first grade at the elementary school in the town where I grew up.
It had been built in 1920 so it didn't have a kitchen for school lunches. They prepared those at the high school a few miles up the road and brought everything to our school in containers.
In September it was really warm, and someone set the big kettle of macaroni salad out early... WAY too early, and it went feral. SERIOUSLY feral.
After lunch everyone in the school -- students and staff -- who had eaten the mac salad, started vomiting. I was sitting next to my friend John and I turned my head and puked all over his sweater, which was hanging off the back of his chair. John was one of the few students whose Mom had packed his lunch that day, so he didn't get sick.
A lot of students and staff ended up in the hospital overnight because of it.
I can still remember that smell. It was awful, a couple hundred people vomiting in the school and outside on the school grounds.
The thing that always amazed me was how quickly it made everyone sick. Some of the students who ate last started vomiting probably no more than 30 minutes to an hour after eating. I can't remember how long the school was closed because of that, but I think it was at least several days because they had to do a room by room deep clean and disinfection of the entire school. And, everyone was still recovering.
I didn't eat macaroni salad for 40 years because of that. It's still a running joke at my class reunions. Invariably someone brings a tub of macaroni salad.
The interesting thing is, the other elementary school in the system, Duncannon, didn't get hit with it. Apparently the salad that went to them was properly handled.
When I was cleaning out Mom's house after she died, I found the newspapers from that that she had saved. I still have them.
