Hot dog! The Wienermobile is coming to Starkville
Everyone has at least heard of the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile, but after Tuesday, everyone in Starkville will have seen it in person.
That’s right, the 27-foot-long hot dog on wheels will be rolling into Starkville on Tuesday as part of its southeast region tour that will be lasting until June.
What makes this news more special for Starkville is Hotdogger Maggie Thomas, a 2019 Mississippi State University graduate, will guide the Wienermobile into town.
For Thomas, being a Hotdogger for Oscar Mayer and getting to drive the Wienermobile is a super fun occupation.
“Honestly, every day is different. Each week, we travel to a new city and then we have events in the area, our goal is to deliver miles of smiles to everyone we meet on the hot dog highways,” said Thomas. “So, we reach out to the media to get the word out that we will be coming, and the people will come out to see the Wienermobile, take pictures, get the famous Wiener Whistle and it’s just buns of fun.”
Molly Swindall, Thomas’ copilot, said that Hotdoggers have been giving out the Wiener Whistles since 1952, sixteen years after the first Wienermobile was born.
For Thomas, being able to bring the American icon to Starkville means a lot for her since the city holds a special place in her heart.
“Our boss coordinates our routes, and she was kind enough to let me bring it home to Mississippi,” said Thomas. “So, we’ll be in Starkville on Tuesday and then we’ll go to my hometown in Tupelo for the rest of the week. Starkville just means so much to me and I just want to bring the magic of the Wienermobile to my second home.”
Swindall said both her and Thomas’s jobs are really impor
tant due to the Wienermobile’s history of spreading smiles across America through troubling times, which is still relevant today.
“I think that it is really cool that the Wienermobile was first debuted in 1936 during the Great Depression just to bring joy and happiness to people, and that still remains our mission today,” said Swindall. “Both of us find it even more important now, because people are just looking for that joy that they need during these tough times and it has made our job much more important. It’s been really special to get to be out on the road to deliver smiles during these tough times and it’s been really awesome.”
Thomas also said that she and Swindall like to call the Wienermobile by its nickname they gave it, the ‘Lambor-weenie.’
“We like to say it’s very aero-dog-namic,” Thomas said.
This coming Tuesday, the Wienermobile will be rolling into Main Street around 2 p.m. and will be there until 3:30 p.m. where frank fanatics can take pictures with the hot dog limousine and receive their very own Wiener Whistle and Hotdogger name.