National Hot Dog Day
Earlier this week, after days and days of rain and storms, I walked out onto the deck and into the soupy, humid heat of the dog days of summer in the South, with the sun hitting a nearly healed sunburn on my shoulders. Undeterred, I uncovered my grill, cleaned out the ashes, stacked some charcoal up and set it alight. Considering it already felt like 400° outside, I figured what’s the harm in adding a source of heat that would actually hit, at least, 400°?! Inside, I got prepped—I put some sauerkraut on the stove to heat, pulled out some bun-length, all-beef franks, some buns, and a beer. I took the buns and the franks outside with me as I went to spread the charcoal, all grayed out, trimmed with the signature white ash that indicates it’s ready to get cooking. I placed the franks on the grill—diagonally, for those nice, slanted grill lines—cracked open my beer and did my very best Southern, redneck, dad impression—with a handkerchief in my back pocket to wipe the sweat off of my face.
I mean, I like grilling but… I don’t like like grilling. I like grilling as a friend.
Not thirty minutes later, franks cooked, buns toasted, sauerkraut warmed up and condiments pulled out, did I sit down in my rocking chair with my hot dogs to watch a few episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds that I needed to catch up on. The second of which saw the security chief of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 time traveling with (the fifth iteration of) Captain James T. Kirk to Toronto in the mid-21st century in order to prevent an attack by time traveling Romulans that would forever prevent Security Chief La’an Noonien-Singh’s timeline (and La’an herself) from existing. It was, at times, a very Kirk-esque episode but from the perspective of the person he falls for; it was funny and sweet and poignant with just the correct dollop of absurdity—thank you, Carol Kane. And just before both the story and the single-serving romance reach their climax, this happened:
“I don’t think I’d gotten as far without you.” “You’d definitely have frozen to death that first night. Or starved. That hot dog saved your life!”
And of course, all of this comes together, unplanned, on the day I’d gotten myself set up to start writing this send up of hot dogs for National Hot Dog Day. Perhaps it was just coincidence. Maybe it was the gods of franks and wieners acting upon my life for these things to happen at once. Maybe it’s Maybelline.
The history of National Hot Dog Day that floats around the internet is nearly as murky as the history of the hot dog itself. Several places including TheHotDog.org—a site affiliated with the North American Meat Institute—claim that National Hot Dog Day was created in 1991 by the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council (also affiliated with NAMI) to fall on the same day as the annual Capitol Hill Hot Dog Lunch. The problem with that is the fact that the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council didn’t exist in 1991. Elsewhere, it’s claimed that National Hot Dog Day was started by students in Alfred, New York in 1971… and that’s it. There’s no source, no story, no reason given; it was just started by students. Period. Students in Alfred, New York do, in fact, observe Hot Dog Day—which was founded by Alfred University students in 1972—but that Hot Dog Day is a local festival. And it occurs in April.
Talk about AMAs.
The clearest and most likely story of the origin of National Hot Dog Day is that it was started by the North American Meat Institute in 1991 to put some oomph behind the annual Capitol Hill Hot Dog Lunch; an event which has been put on by—you guessed it!—the North American Meat Institute since the 1980s. After the creation of the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council—a trade association formed by NAMI to promote hot dogs and sausages—in 1994, it took over as the organization sponsoring National Hot Dog Day. So, yeah. National Hot Dog Day was, at its inception anyway, a political lobbying tactic for the meat industry. Womp womp.
That said, it certainly hasn’t stayed that way. Occurring every third Wednesday of July—which also happens to be National Hot Dog Month, also sponsored by NAMI—National Hot Dog Day has been remixed every which way. Huntington, West Virginia hosts the West Virginia Hot Dog Festival every year on the last Saturday of July, with proceeds benefiting the Hoops Family Children’s Hospital. The festival not only celebrates hot dogs with tons of vendors selling their takes on the summer classic—not to mention the requisite hot dog-eating contest—but it also has a dog costume contest and pooch parade, wiener dog races, a car show, live music, local craft vendors, and root beer chugging contest (*burp*).The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, MO, will be hosting its tenth annual Heart of America Hot Dog Festival on August 5th—admittedly, not on or really near National Hot Dog Day but still! The proceeds from the festival benefit the museum which is a not-for-profit, privately funded organization and the only museum is dedicated to preserving the history of the leagues. And, in addition to celebrating baseball and “baseball [fans’] favorite ballpark food”—there’s a new hot dog on the menu this year called the Memphis Red Sox and it sounds delicious!—their live entertainment line-up is kickass: Dru Hill is headlining!
Excuse me while I have flashbacks to high school.
And there are local events for National Hot Dog Day going on everywhere! My local public library is hosting a hot dog crawl and the prize is a 4-pack of tickets to a Durham Bulls game! A game where the winner can see our very own bat dog in action and find what might be the best hot dog I’ve ever had—a foot long hot dog topped with pulled pork barbecue and creamy coleslaw which one blogger called “a foot long meat torpedo that will sink any appetite.” And it will, I promise.
All meat. Good meat. Rich in complete meat protein. *Heh*
Also, be on the lookout for deals and freebies for National Hot Dog Day! The Dog Haus’ Haus Dogs will be free and Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs will be selling hot dogs at the chain’s original 1916 price of 5¢! But only from 11 am until 1 pm, so make sure you have a lunchtime game plan to take advantage. For folks on the road, Love’s and Pilot Flying J are also offering deals; free hot dogs if ordered through the app and BOGO hot dogs, respectively. For those of you lucky enough to have access to a 7-Eleven (goodness, do I miss 7-Eleven), you don’t have to wait until the 19th: the top hot dog seller in the US is offering $1 quarter-pound hot dogs all July-long. Wienerschnitzel and Sonic have you covered if you’re more into chili dogs. And that’s not even mentioning the deals grocers and retailers will have running on hot dogs—both Whole Foods and Target have deals planned in observation; and, while I don’t have any firm details about deals this year, all of the major grocery stores serving my area ran deals for National Hot Dog Day last year, so keep your eye out for grocery store deals in your area!
So, go ahead and make sure you’re stocked up on the fixin’s. Lay in plenty of paper plates. Remember to follow proper hot dog etiquette—or throw it out the window… they’re hot dogs! Who cares about etiquette?! And, for the love of all that is good and right, slice your kids’ hot dogs lengthwise and, forget what the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council says about the number of bites it should take you to finish a hot dog, both you and your kids should be careful to avoid taking too-big bites. And as Duolingo really wants me to learn in Korean: chew it well (꼭꼭 씹어 먹어. Maybe now that owl will stop pestering me for, like, 5 minutes). Let’s keep National Hot Dog Day tasty and delicious and not scary and scarring, y’know.