Spreading "Miles of Smiles" - Here comes the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile to Lincoln IGA

 

[January 04, 2019] 

Since 1936, the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile has brought "Miles of Smiles" to kids and adults alike all over the world. This iconic vehicle has traveled city streets and country roads all over the USA and even cruised on Germany's autobahn and Canada's King's Highway. 

On Saturday, January 5th the Wienermobile will roll into town and park at the Lincoln IGA parking lot from 10 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.  Folks can come and get a free Wiener Whistle, coupons and a free hot dog inside the store. There are always plenty of photo opportunities along side the 27-foot-long hotdog on wheels and you can even get a glimpse inside the lovely hotdog-themed ride. 

Gabriella Medvick and Jon Brown will be bringing their talents to Central Illinois and Lincoln IGA this weekend.

Hotdoggers Jon Brown and Gabriella Medvick will be making an appearance in Lincoln with the vehicle. The pair, who drive the vehicle and go by the nicknames "Dijon Jon" and "Grillin' Gabs" will also be making appearances in Springfield and Jacksonville throughout the weekend so it's a good chance the vehicle will be spotted up and down the local interstates. 

In fact, there are six Wienermobiles traveling the United States with two  hotdoggers assigned to each vehicle. Each hotdogger shares the responsibility of driving throughout their assigned regions. Brown and Medvick have had the Midwest region since their hiring in June of 2018, but the drivers will switch territories very soon and spend their remaining six months on the job in a new region. Each hotdogger hired by Oscar Mayer must be a recent college graduate and must sign a one-year contract for the job. Brown is a 2018 graduate of the University of  Wisconsin and Medvick is a 2018 graduate of the University of Connecticut. Medvick was a Feature Twirler at UConn. She has been a competitive baton twirler since the age of 7. Medvick hails from Richfield, Ohio, and aside from numerous state, regional and national titles with the USTA, she also performed with her high school, the Revere High School Marching Band, at the Fiesta Bowl. 

According to fellow hotdogger, Cady Lowery of Mount Pulaski, the folks of Lincoln and Logan County will love Ella (short for Gabriella) and Jon. "They are both great people," said Lowery. "Please tell everyone to go see Ella and Jon. Ella is hilarious and don't hesitate to ask her about Geno." Geno, as in Luigi "Geno" Auriemma, the head coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team. Apparently the twirler and the legendary coach are on a first-name basis. 

As for Lowery, a 2014 graduate of Mount Pulaski High School and a 2018 graduate of the University of Missouri, her territory has been the Northeast region since June. Following an intense couple weeks of training in Wisconsin last summer, Lowery and her partner, Forrest Koslowski, a 2018 gradate of the University of Wisconsin, flew to New York to pick up their vehicle, "Big Bun" which was waiting for them in New Jersey.  The two then immediately drove the hotdog on wheels into the city for their first event. New York City that is. 

Lowery claimed to tell Koslowski, "I'll drive into Manhattan and you can drive out." Lowery, who happens to love New York City, did indeed drive the Wienermobile from New Jersey through the Lincoln Tunnel into Manhattan and onto the SouthStreet Seaport overlooking the East River. 

"Day one going through New York City was really cool," said Lowery. "Driving the Wienermobile in New York City was really a lot of fun. Everyone was taking pictures of us and videoing us going through Manhattan. We drove around Times Square a lot, but not actually through it." Lowery recalled how some New York firefighters drove past them in a firetruck and even they were "going nuts at the sight of the 27-foot-long hotdog." 

Everywhere the Wienermobile goes people are hurrying to get their phones up in the air to take pictures and video," Lowery said. "It's really cool to see how happy  people get when they see us. It really does make people smile."

Koslowski recalled the Washington D.C. event the duo attended early on as one of his favorites. "I think Washington D.C. was a really fun event," he said. "Driving  through the nation's capitol, we got to see a lot of historic things while we were there and we partook in BBQ Battle,  which is this huge event that draws in 100,000 people a year. That one was pretty cool because it was high energy." Koslowski said the Wienermobile was  parked on Pennsylvania Avenue down the street from the capitol building in front of the National Gallery of Art. That made for a nice photo opportunity. 

Traveling the Northeast region has already allowed Lowery and Koslowski to make stops in approximately 24 states. The two never made it to Maine, but they hit every other state in the Northeast and they did go all the way down the East Coast to South Carolina to set up at Darlington Raceway  for the Bojangles Southern 500. Early in the morning on race day a young driver pulled up on a golf cart with his 9 month old baby to see the Wienermobile. He  would finish second in the race that day but by the end of the season he would be the NASCAR Cup Series Champion.

The 2018-19 Hotdoggers are Forrest Koslowski, Cady Lowery, Hayley Rozman, Kelli Schulte, Cheyenne Herron, Kyle Edwards and Tony San Miguel. On top are Ella Medvick and Anne Marie Harald. In front are Connor O'Neil, Jon Brown and Josie Balderrama
 

The young driver was Joey Logano, who has a wiener whistle to go along with his championship. Logano also drove the Oscar Mayer themed car the day of the race in Darlington. 

For "Cookout Cady" and "Black Forest Ham" it's been the every day folks that have provided a lot of entertainment and memories. Some people even dress up like hotdogs to come visit them and often times people bring their pets dressed up as hotdogs. 

Eclipse visited Cady and Forrest outside a Walmart near Buffalo, NY last fall.
 

At an event just outside Buffalo, NY last fall, someone brought their pet llama to see the Wienermobile. No, the llama did not spit on the hotdoggers, but she did get her picture taken with them. Her name was Eclipse because she was just a year old and, you guessed it, she was born on the eclipse. 

Eclipse was proudly wearing a hotdog necklace during her visit to the Wienermobile.

As for the current Oscar Mayer  hotdoggers, they do not have to dress up like a hotdog at events. But there are hotdog cutouts that serve as props for picture taking and they spend a lot of their time snapping pictures for people. The hotdoggers themselves do not serve the hotdogs, that's up to the grocery stores and various event organizers. The hotdoggers do not sleep in the Wienermobile. They spend every night in hotels because there is not a bathroom in the Wienermobile. Yes, people do ask. There is not a bun warmer in there for  inquiring minds either. The back part of the vehicle does serve as a very large storage area for suitcases and supplies. 

To drive the Wienermobile, you do not have to have a CDL license, although part of the training upon hire involves a lot of driving. Both Lowery and Koslowski said the Wienermobile is easy to drive. 

"It handles pretty good," said Koslowski. "You are sitting high above the road so you can see what's happening and people normally get out of the way for you." 

The iconic Wiener Whistle with the Baseball Hall of Fame as a backdrop.
 

Lowery added, "We arm ourselves with Wiener Whistles whenever we get out of the vehicle." 

Oscar Mayer gives out 500,000 wiener  whistles a year. 

So come on down to Lincoln IGA, located at 713 Pulaski Street, to get one of the those iconic whistles on Saturday and say hi to Ella and Jon. 

As for Cady and Forrest, they are currently in Cleveland, with an upcoming trip planned to Kentucky before heading to Wisconsin for more training. 

Later this winter Lowery plans be placed in the Midwest region, around her alma mater Mizzou, while Koslowski will  venture to explore the West region.  Lowery will get Connor O'Neil, also a 2018 Mizzou graduate, as a partner for the Midwest region and the two will be involved in recruiting the next class of hotdoggers. Lowery and O'Neil will head west a bit for stops in Texas and New Mexico before coming back towards the Midwest.

Oscar Mayer implemented the hotdogger program in 1988. Each year 12 people are chosen out of approximately 3,000 applications for the job. 

[Teena Lowery with photos by Cady Lowery and courtesy of Oscar Mayer]