National Kool-Aid Days

The story begins with Edwin Perkins, a Hastings entrepreneur who spent his time experimenting with products in his mother’s kitchen and founded the Perkins Products Company in 1920. His first hit was Fruit Smack, a liquid concentrate that made a flavored drink when mixed with sugar and water. But the heavy four-ounce glass bottles were expensive to ship and sometimes broke in transit, so Perkins went back to the drawing board in search of a lighter, cheaper way to deliver refreshment. Like many great inventions, Kool-Aid was born from a shipping problem. Perkins was one of the first entrepreneurs to market products using premiums aimed at children, letting young customers trade package points for prizes, a tactic that shaped food marketing for decades to come.

Inspired by the success of Jell-O, Perkins removed the liquid and created a powder that could be shipped in envelopes. In 1927, Kool-Aid was born. It first sold under the name Kool Ade in six flavors: cherry, grape, lemon-lime, orange, raspberry, and strawberry. The new powder was a hit, and Perkins soon had to stop making his other products to devote all his time to Kool-Aid. Production moved to Chicago in 1931, and Perkins trademarked the Kool-Aid name in 1934, setting the stage for a national phenomenon. The Hastings Museum’s Kool-Aid history identifies Hastings as the birthplace of the drink, a claim the town celebrates with pride every August when thousands of visitors pour in for the festival.

Kool-Aid packets originally sold for ten cents each, but Perkins cut the price to five cents during the Great Depression, marketing it as the Budget Beverage. The drink thrived in those lean years and survived sugar rationing in World War II, with packets even included in some soldiers’ rations overseas, and demand roared back after the war. In 1953, Perkins sold Kool-Aid to General Foods, and the brand became a permanent fixture of American childhood, the taste of summer afternoons for generations. The brand’s survival through Depression-era price cuts and wartime sugar rationing showed how deeply it had already woven itself into American kitchens, becoming a pantry staple from coast to coast. Even sugar rationing could not dim its popularity for long.

Shortly after the sale, the prototype of the Kool-Aid Man arrived, and the giant grinning pitcher became a pop culture star. Bursting through walls with a cheerful “Oh, yeah!”, he appeared in television and print advertising, comics, and even a video game. In the 1960s, Davy Jones of the Monkees appeared in Kool-Aid television commercials, and baby boomers still remember the Kool-Aid Kids cartoon of the era. The Kool-Aid Man found his biggest fame in the 1980s and still pops up today in comedy shows, a testament to one of advertising’s most joyful creations. The Kool-Aid Kids cartoon of the 1960s gave the brand its first animated ambassadors, years before the Kool-Aid Man’s 1980s heyday made the giant pitcher one of the most recognizable mascots in advertising.

Hastings never forgot its hometown hero. In 1998, the same year Kool-Aid was named Nebraska’s official state soft drink, the city launched Kool-Aid Days. The celebration has grown into one of the fastest-growing festivals in the country, earning a nomination among the Top 100 Events of the American Bus Association and winning a Governor’s Award as the most outstanding Nebraska event in its city class. The festival now runs for three days beginning on the third Friday in August, which lands on August 20-22 in 2027. Perkins never forgot Hastings either: a foundation created after his death helped fund a library, a retirement home, a music hall, and a hospital in the towns that mattered to his family. With more than 30 events and thousands of attendees, Kool-Aid Days has become one of the fastest growing festivals in the United States, earning national recognition from tourism and event organizations.

Festivalgoers can sip from the World’s Largest Kool-Aid Stand, cheer the Kwickest Kool-Aid Drinking Contest, watch full-size cardboard boat races on Lake Hastings and miniature jammer boat races at the city Aquacourt, catch the parade, the classic car cruise, and the Miss Kool-Aid Days pageant, and brave the famous fried Kool-Aid. With a free Saturday night rock concert and fireworks in Brickyard Park, carnival games, giant inflatable rides, a 5K fun run, trolley rides through the historic district, model rocket launches, and sixteen flavors on tap, there is something for every kid, young or simply young at heart. Commemorative mugs let thirsty fans drink all they want, and the Hastings Museum offers free admission on Sunday with its Kool-Aid: Discover the Dream exhibit. Visitors can buy commemorative Kollectibles, including special two-dollar mugs that entitle them to drink as much Kool-Aid as they want from the sixteen flavors served at the festival.

It is estimated that more than 500 million gallons of Kool-Aid are consumed in the United States each year, a testament to a little powder packet born in a Nebraska kitchen nearly a century ago. Whether you road-trip to Hastings or raise a glass at home, National Kool-Aid Days is a toast to small-town ingenuity. Mix up a pitcher, pick your favorite flavor, and join a century of summer tradition. Oh, yeah! The Hastings Museum keeps the story alive year-round with its Kool-Aid: Discover the Dream exhibit, and opens its doors with free admission on the Sunday of the festival weekend.

THE STORY BEHIND NATIONAL KOOL-AID DAYS

🧪 1927: The Invention
Edwin Perkins of Hastings, Nebraska, turns his liquid Fruit Smack into a shippable powder inspired by Jell-O, and Kool-Aid is born in six original flavors.

💵 The Budget Beverage
Priced at ten cents, then cut to five cents during the Great Depression, Kool-Aid became the affordable drink of hard times and a staple of soldiers’ rations in World War II.

🥤 Oh, Yeah!
After the 1953 sale to General Foods, the Kool-Aid Man debuted, bursting through walls and into American pop culture, from TV ads to video games.

🏆 1998: Official Honor
Kool-Aid is named Nebraska’s official state soft drink, and Hastings launches the first Kool-Aid Days festival.

🎉 The Festival Today
Three days of parades, drinking contests, boat races, concerts, pageants, and the World’s Largest Kool-Aid Stand draw thousands to Hastings each August.

WAYS TO CELEBRATE

🥤 Mix a Pitcher Party
Invite friends over, mix up cherry, grape, and tropical punch, and vote on the all-time greatest flavor.

🚗 Road-Trip to Hastings
Plan an August pilgrimage to Kool-Aid Days for the parade, the drinking contest, and the World’s Largest Kool-Aid Stand.

📷 Share Your Oh-Yeah Moment
Post your Kool-Aid creations with #KoolAidDays and tag the friends who grew up on the stuff.

Celebrate National Kool-Aid Days

From August 20 to 22, 2027, raise a glass to the little Nebraska town that sweetened America’s summers. Whether you are in Hastings or at your own kitchen counter, mix it bold, drink it cold, and celebrate a century of the Budget Beverage. While you are in town, stop by the Hastings Museum to see the Kool-Aid: Discover the Dream exhibit and trace how a kitchen experiment became an American icon. Bring the kids, bring the grandparents, and bring an appetite for the sweetest weekend of the summer. Come thirsty, leave happy, and take home a mug to prove it. Oh, yeah!