Last week started off with a potato celebration, because August 19th was NATIONAL POTATO DAY aka Christmas for the Tater Team! We celebrated with a potato feast at Aubrey’s in Bristol, TN. We ate french fries, chips, potato soup, mashed potatoes and a loaded baked Idaho® Potato (we made sure to check the seal)! We were even joined by long time Big Idaho Potato follower and volunteer at the Bristol Motor Speedway, Danny Hunt! It was nice to gather with friends and celebrate our favorite food!
Our events this week were focused on community service and making a BIG impact! Every tour we partner up with charities across America with our program called “A Big Helping”. Over the years The Idaho® Potato Commission has donated money to charities such as the Shriners Children Hospital, Jacobs Hands, Coats for Kids, American Red Cross and so much more. We partnered up with two great charities this week in Connecticut and Maine! On Wednesday, we partnered up with the Community Renewal Team in Hartford, Connecticut to help their Meals on Wheels program. Jason Black, our event contact and Strategic Communications Coordinator for CRT, did such an excellent job at getting a media hype for the truck and the event! All the local medias in the area featured the truck multiple times before and during the event! On the day of the event we had a large crowd come to see our potato and sign the signature board for Meals on Wheels. We even donated double to the cause because it was such a great turn out! Jason was a great spokesman for the event and our potato. The team also did media interviews for multiple stations! Kaylee had an interview with Fox 61’s Margaux Ferrell and Jessica did a Facebook live with her as well! It was such a TATERIFIC event and so good to see the community come together!
After a successful event in Hartford we trucked on up to Waterboro, Maine for our event at the Waterboro Community Pantry. On our way we stopped in Hatfield, MA at a C&S Wholesale Grocers. This was an event for the employees at the office, and they were all really excited to see our spud! It was a fun addition to their work day and a good stop because they purchase a lot of Idaho® Potatoes! Throughout the day employees came out to take photos with our truck and learn more about the tour! The Tater Team was even treated to a Idaho® Potato bar with the employees! The spuds were delicious and it was such a special treat!
The following day we made our way to Waterboro, Maine for our event benefiting The Community Pantry! It was such a pleasure to meet the volunteers at the pantry and hear how the pantry started from an idea and turned into a reality! The pantry is privately owned and built so the founder, Cleo, and volunteers worked very hard to build it and keep it running! It was so nice to meet people that care so much about their communities and dedicate their live to making it a better place. It was a pleasure to partner up with them and support their cause! We had a great turnout and the Waterboro Community Pantry was able to collect food and cash donations. In addition Marcus the Magician was there making ballon animals for the kids. He donated all of the money he collected to pantry at the end of the day!
This week it felt so good to give back to the communities! It is one of my favorite parts about the tour, because it is so nice to meet the people that work hard to improve their communities. A Big Helping brings us closer to the people we visit and that is why I love it so much! I hope that our donation and time makes a significant impact and helps those who need it.
Thank you for reading the blog and following our journey. The team is currently on route to Hoisington, Kansas for a Labor Day Celebration and Ag Awarness Day! If you follow our truck make sure to check out our calendar at bigidahopotato.com/tour or follow us on potato tracker!
Thanks,
Tater Twin, Jessica
