This past Friday, July 16, we made the fourth and final stop of our 2010 Hoagiefest summer tour at our store in Lewes, Delaware.  The 60s-themed celebration was chalk full of amazing events and I was surprised at how quickly the day flew by. Then again, the same thing happened with all of this year’s Hoagiefest stops! 

At our Lewes celebration, I was thrilled that so many of our Lewes customers and our associates from surrounding stores joined the celebration – some decked out in groovy 60s-themed outfits!  They looked great next to our tie-dye next to our ¼ mile long hoagie.  Speaking of that hoagie, our store associates started building the masterpiece at 7:30AM to prepare the feast that would satisfy the day’s hungry hoagie lovers.  I’m proud to say that each associate also couldn’t wait to fill the Food Bank of Delaware’s truck when they came to pick up our donated truckload of hoagies. There truly is nothing more rewarding than volunteering your time to help others in need.

But we couldn’t stop with just a ¼ mile of hoagies, could we?  Of course not!  To round out the day, we held one of our signature Hoagiefest events – our Hoagies for Heroes Hoagie Building Competition, in which members of the local State police department, the Lewes Fire Department and two teams from the United States Army Reserves and recruiting branch raced against the clock to build as many hoagies as possible in three minutes.  I was pretty impressed that in just a few short minutes the teams built as many as they did, the State Police won the bragging rights as hoagie-building champions with 37 total, but all four teams were winners: We presented each team with a check to donate to their charity of choice. 

I can safely say that this year’s Hoagiefest Tour was the best yet. Thousands of Wawa fanatics feasted on over a mile of our hoagies.  But it wasn’t just the food that made Hoagiefest such a hit this year – it was all of you, our customers and our wonderful associates, who really made this year’s events special!  It was rewarding to watch all the children (and children at heart) who, while beaming from ear to ear, jumped at the chance to play hoagie games and take pictures with the Hoagie-mobile.  That’s what Hoagiefest is truly about – a time when we can connect with and give back to the communities that have loyally supported us throughout the years.  

With our last Hoagiefest event of the year behind us, I’m left eagerly awaiting next year’s celebrations.  I’m not sure how we’ll be able to top Hoagiefest 2010, but we’ll sure try! 

‘Till next time…

Happy July 4th everyone!  It’s hard to believe that the Welcome America! Festivities have come to a close, but after a truly jammed-packed and exciting 10 days, I am left reflecting on this incredibly memorable first year of our Welcome America! sponsorship.

A few weeks ago I wrote that all of us at Wawa were proud to celebrate Philadelphia traditions and to also have the opportunity to weave in our own traditions throughout the festival.  I spoke about two of our signature events, Go Forth and Learn and Hoagie Day which we were excited to be launching as part of the Welcome America! festivities (http://www.wawa.com/Blog/post/2010/06/10/Gearing-Up-for-Wawa-Welcome-America.aspx).  

Kicking off the festival with our Go Forth and Learn event, it was incredible to see how passionate young children were to learn about our dairy history.   They had a thirst for knowledge (no pun intended) and even though it was close to 100 degrees outside, the kids couldn’t get enough of our interactive milking station, our story book readings, and our incredible associates who were handing out milk samples, manning different dairy stations, and making sure no child’s question went unanswered.

And then there was our Hoagie Day celebration which began at 5:00AM.  I joined 150 smiling and enthusiastic associates and Philabundance President and Executive Director Bill Clarke that morning, in building the mile and a quarter long hoagie to be served to the crowd later that day, a portion of which was donated to local food banks.  You never would have guessed it was 5AM by all the singing, dancing, and hoagie building activity that was going on!  All of our associates created an infectious enthusiasm that morning that kept on pumping right into our evening Hoagie Day festivities, making the return of Hoagie Day to Philadelphia bigger and better than ever before—just as promised!

And of course it all culminated this past weekend during the July 4th parade on the parkway which drew in thousands of people to watch the festive, patriotic parade, which included hundreds of Wawa Associates; or the tens of thousands that listened to the Goo Goo Dolls concert, watched the fireworks, and celebrated our nation’s birthday with family and friends. 

It’s amazing to think we gave away more than 90,000 beverages throughout these past10 days--40,000 alone on Sunday, as well as flags, coupons, hats and hoagies.  But more than anything, it’s amazing to know that close to 1,000 of our associates participated in events throughout the festival schedule, making everyone who attended the events feel like a part of our family.  We feel proud and honored to be able to be so much a part of the Welcome America! events and I feel proud and honored to be part of a company with associates who make our commitments to the communities we serve lasting and meaningful.

“Till next time…

June 30 we were proud to bring Hoagie Day back to Philadelphia as one of the signature events for our title Sponsorship of the Welcome America! Festival and all I can say is we really weren’t kidding when we promised it was going to be the most jam packed Hoagie Day yet!

We had a Hoagie Heritage Day Proclamation from Philadelphia Mayor Nutter who officially proclaimed June 30th to be Hoagie Heritage Day.   We had a Hoagies for Heroes hoagie building competition between Philadelphia Police Officers and Firefighters who squared off in a charitable hoagie building competition in memory of fallen comrades.  We had a Rocky Contest where contestants competed for title of “Best Lookalike and Soundalike” Rocky.  And of course we had a Hoagie Feast where the 1¼  mile long hoagie we built earlier in the day was served free to the public.

But I have to say from the bottom of my heart, that one of the aspects I was most proud of was the Wawa Talent event that occurred right before our Hoagie Day festivities began.  Last night Wawa’s search for the best singing Associate came to a head at the finals of the first ever Wawa Talent Event, an American Idol-inspired singing contest that put our associates’ pipes on display!  After a three month open call for the best Wawa singer out of all our 16,000 associates, we narrowed down the group to the top 12 finalists, who sung their hearts out in the finals round last night.  To get to this point, the finalists made it through local and regional audition rounds, and boy were they deserving of the finals. Click Here to check out a little more about our incredible 12 finalists.

All of these associates were winners in my book, but first place deservedly went to Kristin Jackson from Perryville, Maryland, who truly knocked the judges out of their seats with Jill Scott’s One is the Magic Number. This followed up on another knockout performance during the regional audition round when she wowed the judges with a song from The Color Purple. Her singing style represents a mix of R&B and Gospel, inspired by musicians Maxwell and Alicia Keys. 

Before last night’s event Kristen told us she was looking forward to the crowd’s reaction as this was her first performance in front of a large crowd.  She also told us she cannot sing a song unless the song is in her soul and she can relate to it in some way.  To support Kristin, family, friends, and associates made the trek from Perryville to stand in the audience with handmade sings cheering Kristin on as they hope to see her win!

Here's a video clip from her performance.

WAW-Welcome_WMV9_Widescreen_426x240.wmv (14.38 mb)

Kristen was not the only one with a cheering section as all the 12 finalists had friends, family and co-workers at the event, providing all the love and support anyone could hope for.  It really was a wonderful reflection of how deep our Wawa family extends.

I’ve always said that we have the most talented associates working at Wawa, and each of these 12 associates is proof that this talent extends well beyond providing excellent customer service.  Congratulations to all of the finalists and thank you to each and every one of you for sharing a piece of you hearts and souls with us.  There was no better way to welcome America to our celebration.

‘Till next time…