This week we started out on the outskirts of Seattle, WA and drove five days to Canton, Ohio! It was definitely a long week, but we made some fun stops along the way! Our first stop was in Butte, MT and then on to Dickinson, North Dakota. One of our super fans, Anthony J., lives in Dickinson and we got to meet him and his family. He was the nicest guy and was so excited to see our new potato. Anthony is from Idaho, and said he has been following us for the past few years. His dream was to see the truck one day! We gave him the VIP (very important potato) tour and hooked him up with some potato swag. He said the truck was definitely better in person and that we made his whole week. I’m so glad we were finally able to meet him and his awesome family!
The following day we stopped in Bloomington, Minnesota and parked at the Mall of America for a few hours! The #bigidahopotato definitely got a lot of attention from tourists and mall employees. The #taterteam also had some fun exploring the inside of the mall as well!
Our stop after Minnesota was South Bend, Indiana and then we finally arrived in Canton, Ohio! We were so excited to make it after such a long week! It was a jam-packed following weekend in Ohio because we participated in the Pro-Football Hall of Fame annual parade. One of the players getting inducted was Jerry Kramer, who played for University of Idaho back in the 50’s before getting drafted to the Green Bay Packers! It made it that much more special that we were able to cheer on a fellow Idahoan! We were also joined by some local Big Idaho Potato truck super fans who entered our social media contest to ride-along in the parade. Our two winners, Denise and Jordan, each brought one guest to be in the parade with us. It was so fantastic to have locals with us, and just goes to show that we really do have fans everywhere!
Matt Brigotti from the Idaho Potato Commission & his wife Samantha from Ohio also rode. It was great catching up with them, as we hadn’t seen them since last year’s parade! Our other special guest was Mark Johnson from Boise’s KTVB Channel 7 news station. He not only did a Facebook Live Video riding on the truck, but also did the local news broadcast as well from our potato! Click here to watch the live video. We cannot thank him and Channel 7 enough for featuring us and joining in on all of the fun festivities! We had such a blast and a half at the parade and I hope we can come back next year.
We weren’t done in Canton yet, because the next day we parked our #spud at Fresh Thyme Market. We set up our booth to let fans take photos and gave away free Idahoan mashed potatoes! A lot of our visitors had seen us in the parade, and were so excited to see the truck up close. Denise, one of our super fans who rode with us the parade, also came by to show her son the potato in person! We had a great “thyme” and we “Canton” wait to come back one day!
This next week the #taterteam will be participating in a Taco Festival in Topeka, Kansas because what is better than Idaho potatoes and tacos?! Taco-bout a great mash.
Until next time potato peeps!
-Kaylee
