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| Photos | Rachel Burgos |
On Wednesday night,
Wawa Hoagie Day took over the Art Museum area. Part of the Wawa-sponsored
Welcome America celebration, which comes to a head this weekend, features of the evening included a mile-long hoagie, a police vs. firefighters charity hoagie-building contest (the cops won), a Rocky Balboa lookalike contest and a screening of the original
Rocky. (
Mayor Michael Nutter,
Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers and
Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey were on the scene to present charity checks to PPD and PFD survivors' funds.)
The smell of hoagie made its presence known the moment I stepped onto the Parkway, where I arrived to an intimidatingly long line. Tensions were high, and I even got accused of line cutting when I walked up to scope things out. To be honest, I was a bit flummoxed at what I found.
In the weeks leading up to this event, I looked forward to what I imagined would be a glorious, 5,280-foot hoagie — the stuff that meat-laden dreams are made of. Imagine my severe confusion when I entered the roped-off hoagie area and discovered that the epic gimmick was, in actuality, just 13,510 Shortis put together.
I should have known. I should have guessed that such an enormous, edible monstrosity could not feasibly be built in one piece. But in my defense, that's how they promoted it.
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All mile-long disappointments aside, the event was really well-organized and pretty fun. Along with receiving free Shortis, attendees were lavishsed with various Wawa iced teas, ice cream bars, popcorn, Frisbees, plastic hats and other freebies. But thanks to all the condiments thrown carelessly on the ground, the museum steps turned in to a warzone — tomatoes were like landmines baking in the hot sun, just waiting to ruin someone's night.
I left before the
Rocky screening, but before I did I was lucky enough to witness hundreds of Philadelphians united in eating one of our iconic sandwiches — a glorious sight. Below, we profile just a few of them.
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| NAME: Kate
FROM: South Philly
FAVORITE HOAGIE: Italian
HOW LONG DID YOU WAIT IN LINE? "I didn't, I cut. Shhhh!" |
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| NAME: Kris
FROM: Philadelphia
FAVORITE HOAGIE: Roast beef and cheddar cheese
HOW LONG DID YOU WAIT IN LINE? "I'm a line jumper, so about 30 seconds." |
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| NAME: Alison
FROM: South Philly
FAVORITE HOAGIE: Turkey with buffalo sauce
HOW LONG DID YOU WAIT IN LINE? "Forty minutes ... then we just walked under the
ropes and snuck in." |
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| NAMES: Zuleika and Victoria
FROM: North Philly
FAVORITE HOAGIE: Italian
HOW LONG DID YOU WAIT IN LINE? "A while. It was worth it, though." |
