Twelve contestants stepped up to the table positioned outside of Olerud’s after the Fourth of July parade, ready to participate in a hot-dog-eating contest. Olerud’s employees Tyler Swinton and Bryce Wortman prepared 160 hot dogs for the 17 people who initially signed up.
As it was their first time hosting a hot-dog-eating contest, the duo were unsure how many hot dogs people would consume, so they estimated each would eat a max of 10 hot dogs. This resulted in an excess of hot dogs. Swinton and Wortman cooked and packaged each tray shortly before the contest.
“It turned out to be more of a hit than we could have imagined for the first year,” Swinton said. More than 300 spectators gathered to watch as contestants competed for the grand prize of $250.
The rules were simple: contestants had to fully finish as many hot dogs as possible in 250 seconds, or four minutes and 10 seconds. Contestants could not dunk their hot dogs or buns.
They hatched the idea in May and June, when Swinton and Wortman were thinking about how Olerud’s could celebrate the 250th Independence Day. Wortman follows hot-dog-eating contests nationally and was advocating for Haines to have its very own.
The winner, eating eight hot dogs, was Shannon Miller. Jesse Benham, Michael Dillinger and Kris Fisher tied for second place, each eating six hot dogs. Other contestants included: Aurora Alten-Huber, Chuck Jones, Kayla Yeoman, Kevin Smith, Marc Lapeyri, Maxman Sullivan, Cory Zembower and Sonny Willard.
Looking at next year’s contest, Swinton said they are working on finding a way to have everyone see the event more easily, potentially by renting a flatbed trailer.
