Remember that time the Wienermobile visited Bellingham?
With news this week that Oscar Mayer is looking for Wienermobile drivers, we went to our Wayback Machine for this Dean Kahn column from the Oct. 28, 2007, Bellingham Herald. Sadly, the 2007 video of Whatcom residents singing the Oscar Mayer jingle is lost on the internet. But we did find photos from other visits.
County shows Wienermobile the love; Bellingham visit brings memories back for residents
Normally, Debbie Kennedy would have hopped right onto a bus in Fairhaven to go to a friend’s place to help with cleaning.
But Friday was special, so Kennedy left her house early. Why?
The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile was in town.
Her excitement was evident as she approached the two drivers - “hotdoggers” in Oscar Mayer-ese - standing beside the 21-foot-long, Fiberglas, orange-dog-and-yellow-bun vehicle parked outside Haggen Fairhaven Market.
Kennedy rotated her arms and swiveled her hips and feet as she sang the memorable Oscar Mayer jingle, now in its 44th year:
Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener; that is what I’d truly like to be. ‘Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer wiener, everyone would be in love with me.
Then Kennedy jumped with happiness when one of the two drivers gave her an Oscar Mayer weenie whistle. She took a picture of the drivers and had them take a picture of her in front of the Wienermobile.
Iconic Wienermobile ‘brings out the kid in me’
“This makes me so young again,” said the 50-year-old Bellingham resident.
Growing up in California, Kennedy learned the jingle when she was about 4. She and her brother would sing it while eating hot dogs. When she was 12, she and her grandmother went to see the Wienermobile, but they missed it. To make up, her grandmother bought her three packages of hot dogs and she feasted for several days.
Kennedy finally got to see a Wienermobile Friday morning when the promotional vehicle began two days of visits to Haggen stores in Bellingham and Ferndale.
Some young kids visited, including a preschool class Friday morning, but the Wienermobile resonated especially strongly with grown-ups.
Bellingham resident Pat Kust, 64, was determined to see it because she grew up in Wisconsin, near Oscar Mayer’s Midwest origins. Indeed, the Wienermobile carries a Wisconsin license plate that reads WEENR, and the training academy for drivers is in Madison, Wis.
“This brings out the kid in me,” Kust said. “Life is so heavy; you’ve got to have a little fun.”
Kust was seeing the Wienermobile for the first time, as was her friend, Guy Loiselle, 71, also of Bellingham.
“It’s an icon for people our age,” he said. “It’s definitely a memory machine.”
It’s easy to see why. Can you think of another company vehicle that’s better known? I can’t.
Can you think of another product jingle that’s so familiar to so many people? I can’t.
Then think about the memories that many people associate with hot dogs: family picnics, baseball games, weenie roasts at the beach.
Finally, toss in people’s curiosity about the giant hot dog on wheels. The Wienermobile has been around since 1936, when Oscar Mayer came up with the idea to promote its products. Today, six Wienermobiles cruise the country.
Behind the wheel in Whatcom County were Dan Olson, 23, and Caylen Goudie, 22, both graduates of the University of Missouri; he in journalism, she in communications. Olson says the one-year job is a fun way to see the country and ponder where each might want to live once they leave wiener-dom.
The Wienermobile has gone through several design and color changes through the years.
The current model boasts a GPS navigational system, a V-8 engine that gets about 14 mpg, six mustard- and-ketchup-colored seats, a blue-sky ceiling with clouds, and a state-of-the-art sound system that plays a CD with the Oscar Mayer jingle performed in 21 musical styles.
What about an automated condiment dispenser? Sorry, this is the Wienermobile, not the Jetsons. Get real.
This story was originally published January 24, 2019 at 8:32 AM.
