Hello Everyone! It’s #tinytater here, a.k.a Willy, updating you on our daily adventures with the Big Idaho® Potato Tour Truck that travels the lower 48 states of the United States of America!
This past week we were in Hot Springs, Arkansas for the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which has a parade route of 98 feet!
The parade included notable personalities like the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, Charlie Evans, and Paw Patrol.
Before the start of the parade we met Danny Trejo, who is best known for his roles from movies like “Spy Kids”, “Breaking Bad”, & “Machete”! He wanted to to get a photo on top of our 4-ton tater, which was an event on it’s own! Safe to say that everyone on the team, as well as the audience, were ecstatic over Mr. Trejo.
During the parade #spudicus and I were harnessed on top of the potato for the second time and we were boogieing it up while ducking for stop lights, power lines, and branches (yet again) which definitely added excitement for the crowd and truthfully it did the same for us!
On the other hand, #spudracer was driving flawlessly as she always does and was able to make the nail-biting turn into the official parade route. We had so many people curious if we were going to be able to make the turn- and thanks to #spudracer’s skills we did it without any problems.
For the Wearin’ o’ the Green Parade in Baton Rouge, Louisiana we were greeted by party floats blasting all types of music and greeting us with their excitement for our giant potato.
Spuddy Buddy made an appearance before and during the parade, showing off his dance moves for everyone to enjoy. He was bombarded with Spud lovers for almost every step he took!
During the parade, #spudracer had her head on a swivel and was diligently watching out for hazards like people on the parade route touching the potato as we drove, all the while smiling and waving to the crowd as always.
Meanwhile, Spuddy Buddy and I were in the parade box waving, smiling, and dancing for everyone. After a bit I had to duck into the potato because we were getting rained on by what seemed like hundreds of beads, toys, and even a real live potato, again adding more excitement to the event! I would pop back up once in a while when the coast was clear to catch footage of the crowd and of course our beloved Spuddy Buddy.
Last but not least, we ended our week at the Hi-Nabor Supermarket on Sunday where we were greeted with love and joy by everyone who either worked for, worked with, and shopped at Hi-Nabor. Our Big Helping Program was able to match a dollar for every signature we got for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. We even had special assistance at our booth during the entire event from Chris Ordoyne and his lovely 11 year-old daughter, Amber!
Hi-Nabor set up multiple displays especially for the Big Idaho® Potato Tour and 100% Certified Idaho® Potatoes. They had prizes for a game including miniature versions of Spuddy Buddy, Spuddy Buddy coloring books, Idaho® Potato Pens, and our commemorative Big Idaho® Potato Tour Truck.
They also had a special sale for Idaho® Potatoes for 49 cents a pound from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm during our event which encouraged so many people to take pages from our Idaho Potato Recipe books.
We enjoyed every single event we were invited to and we can’t wait to update you guys on all of our future events! Stay tuned for next time and in the meanwhile take care of each other and stay safe out there!
