• The New York Times, Monday, May 5, 2008 10:45 AM

Every year, more than 10,000 devotees flock to La Roy, a sleepy bedroom community near Rochester, N.Y., to watch the gelatin wiggle. General Foods shut the Jell-O factory here in 1964, but Le Roy--where a carpenter trying to develop herbal teas invented the stuff in 1897--remains devoted to the dessert.

At the Jell-O Gallery on East Main Street, there is an exhibit displaying advertisements over the years and another that shows the evolution of Jell-O's three-ounce package. You can vote for your favorite flavor or watch Bill Cosby's popular commercials.

Visitors come by the busload from all over the country. Cherry, strawberry and raspberry are perennial favorites, but lime does well when the Mormons hold their annual Hill Cumorah festival in Palmyra, 50 miles away. Mormons, says gallery director Lynne J. Belluscio, are some of the most avid consumers of Jell-O. In 2001, the Utah Legislature declared Jell-O the official state snack.

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