National Hot Dog Day

How has this idea enhanced your club's operation, etc.?

Every day is a good day for a celebration, and there are national holidays for everything. We decided that National Hot Dog Day would be a great way to celebrate the mid-point of the summer! Our lifeguard team went full dog ahead to create Dog Days of Summer, a unique event that creates fun memories for all ages. Hallbrook wanted to expand on the idea of the classic poolside cookout and incorporate popular and entertaining games from baseball games. That is where the Hot Dog Race came to life. Ketchup, Mustard, and Relish spun their way across the pool in inflatable Zorbs for everyone to cheer on. The condiments then hosted a series of games that got members of all ages out of chairs to get involved. Thanks to our culinary team for preparing 139 hot dogs for our first annual Hot Dog Eating Contest where we declared a winner of the day! Our thought was to take the national holiday and put a fun nontraditional spin on it. The event turned out to be the event of all events for the summer.

How was this idea implemented, and what have been the club members' reactions?

The implementation of this nontraditional event required weeks of planning and execution. The campaign for our event started with the condiments hyping up the members around our Recreation Center and pool. This caused a lot of curiosity and questions as to why Ketchup, Mustard, and Relish were on the roof, working out in the gym, racing around the grounds, and launching items into the pool. We posted video clips, sneak peeks, and polls on our Instagram page to draw up hype to the big day. Once the day finally arrived, our condiments were ready to go! We set up a series games and challenges around the pool for members to challenge hot dogs. We also used our new launcher to shoot hot dogs and other prizes from our roof 35 feet in the air into the pool and around the pool deck.