News Release/History
Join us downtown on Saturday, May 3, 2008 for the 20th annual BURGER DAY FESTIVAL. Come watch the WORLD’S LARGEST fried onion hamburger being cooked over an open fire….it’s 8 ½ feet in diameter and weighs over 750 pounds. You might even get a free bite of the big one. Downtown El Reno will be bustling with family fun! There will be live entertainment on the Main Stage, featuring local and popular Oklahoma entertainers and the Children’s Stage, featuring clowns, magicians, dancers and singers; and the Rockin-on-Rock Island D.J., playing all your favorites and special requests. You can see the Classic Car Show with over 200 antique and custom cars. Other attractions include a Craft Show, Cycle World, rides, games and much more. There’s something for everyone at El Reno’s Burger Day Festival on Saturday, May 3rd. Sponsored by El Reno Main Street, Lucky Star Casino and Tyler Media. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Food For Kids Program in Canadian County. On Monday, April 28th from 11:30 a.m. till 1:00 p.m. on the 2nd floor rotunda at the State Capitol, El Reno Main Street will be hosting Burger Day at the Capitol. Fried onion hamburgers will be served (free), along with a preview of what the Burger Day Festival will have to offer on Saturday, May 3rd. For more information contact: El Reno Main Street, (405) 262-8888 Please note: The Burger Day Festival is sponsored by El Reno Main Street a non-profit 501(c)3 organization. There is no admission to the event. Please provide any public service announcements possible or place on a calendar of events. Thank you! We would love to be a guest on your morning show. To discuss any possibilities, please call Debbie Harrison at 262-0161. Please find below and attached several details pertaining to the Burger Day Festival. We have also produced a CD of Burger Day Festival coverage. Please contact Codie at 262-8888 for a copy of the CD. Thank you for your time and consideration, Codie Finnigan Director, El Reno Main Street |
| Festival Details: Big Burger - 750 lbs and 8.5 ft. in diameter. (El Reno Fire Department, Kent Lagaly, 262-2949 or Chris Denny, 262-2949) -KKNG and Jack FM will be doing a Live Radio Remote from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. -250 pounds of beef (donated by OKC West, OK Beef Industry Council, Larry’s Meats and Alfadale Farms) -150 pounds of onions (donated by Beachlers Grocery Store) -Register for the Burger Eating Contest (one 10 and under and one adult contest) from 10 a.m. – noon at the Big Burger Arena. Big Burger Schedule 12 noon-The Oklahoma Commemorative Wing Air Force will be making flyovers in World War II vintage aircraft. 11:30- Big Burger Preparation 11:45- “King of the Big Burger” Reunion! The “King of the Big Burger” award recognizes individuals who have contributed to making the festival, and the fried onion hamburger, a success. To celebrate this unique aspect of El Reno’s history, El Reno Main Street annually requests nominations for “King of the Big Burger”. For the 20th Annual Burger Day Festival, El Reno Main Street will be conducting a “King of the Big Burger” Reunion. The following is a list of the past “Burger Kings/Queens”, some of who will be attending the reunion ceremony: 2007: Craig Huber 2006: Debbie Harrison 2005: Kent Lagaly 2004: Donna Von Tungeln 2003: John Thompson 2002: David Eaton 2001:Harold Cavin 2000: Johnnie Siler 1999: Henry Jo Von Tungeln 1998: Ross Davis 12:00-Begin cooking of the Big Burger 12:30-Burger Eating Contest 1:00-Serving of the Big Burger There will be state legislators, county commissioners, and city council members helping to serve the “Big One.” -Bun is over 350 pounds -Donna VonTungeln is the Master Bun Maker -Ingredients for bun donated by the Oklahoma Wheat Commission -Bun is baked in 12’ x 12’ convection oven (only one of its kind, also used in 2004 to make the bread for the World’s Largest PBJ) -George Motz, author of Hamburger America, will be at the Big Burger area for the festivities and will have a booth outside the area. George may be America's foremost hamburger expert. Since the release of his documentary film Hamburger America (on the Sundance Channel in 2005) he has been asked daily of his opinion of where to find some of the best burgers in the country. He has taught a course on hamburgers at NYU, consulted for Wendy's Hamburgers, and NY chef Harry Hawk named a burger after him. In 2006, Hamburger America became required viewing in a food course at Princeton University and the film was nominated for a James Beard Award. For more information on George and Hamburger American, visit his web site at http://www.hamburgeramerica.com/ Car Show (Jerry Nelson, 262-2402) -Anticipate 100-200 cars -Awards will be given to the top 25 in the car show. Awards are voted on by the car show participants -Special awards given for Car Show Volunteers’ Choice, Warden’s Choice, Main Street’s Choice, Sheriff’s Choice, City Manager’s Choice, Police Chief’s Choice, Fire Chief’s Choice & Mayor’s Choice -Door Prizes throughout the day from Bill’s Auto and Ross Seed Co. -Registration from 8:00 a.m. until noon -The Rockin’ on Rock Island D.J. will be playing requests all day and will be located in the Car Show area by Haynes Photo Cycle World (DeDe Henderson at 262-7844 or dede402001@yahoo.com) -Anticipate 100 cycles -BACA, ABATE, the Priesthood of Motorcyclists and other motorcycle groups will be present and will have an informational booth. Children’s Stage (Deanne Lagaly, 262-7566) Schedule 10:00 Karate Expedition 10:30 Darlington Boys & Girls Club 11:00 Sponji the Clown 11:30 Yukon Solo Singers 12:30 Irish Step Dance 1:00 Sponji the Clown 1:30 Dance Etiquette Dancers 2:30 Central District Square Dancing Group Main Stage (Brooke Stroman, 262-2788) -Schedule 10:00- EHS Jazz Band 10:30- Silent Singers 11:00- Christina Bender 11:30- Gene Stroman 12:00- Rainy Day Six 12:45- Roe Sham Beau 1:30- Hollow 3:15- The Surely Method 4:30- Stoney LaRue and the Arsenals -Bios and photos available upon request Bun Run (5K & 10K) – Cancelled for 2008!!! -El Reno Main Street is looking for a group to coordinate this event for next year. Main Street Burger Booth - selling famous fried onion hamburgers all day long! (Craig Huber, 262-1202) -Use 630 pounds of beef (donated by OKC West, Oklahoma Beef Industry, Council, Larry’s Meats and Alfadale Farms) -Use 400 pounds of onions (some are donated by Beachlers) -Last year 3,000 hamburgers were sold in seven hours -Onion peeling party is held the Thursday before (550 pounds of onions) -Meat rolling party is held on Friday (4,000 rolls) Kids World (Lori Cooper, 262-3254 and Rhonda Hoselton, 262-2345) -Planned games and activities are: Gold fish game, ball in cup, putt putt green, Petting Zoo, Bash Cancer - Car Bashing, Sandart, hair garlands, hair color, face painting, Airbrush Tattoos, Pony Rides, Ferris Wheel, Wizzer, Tubs of Fun, Turbo Slide, Kiddie Octopus, Indian Rope Ladder, pick a duck, dart or suction ball toss, Plinko, Bottle toss, Bean bag toss, Mobile Outdoor Skate Park, Jurassic Adventure, Swing, Gone Fishing, Vortex, Superplay, Mechanical Bull, and Obstacle Course. -Solid Rock Christian Center will do the Dunk Tank -The Oklahoma National Guard will be providing a Bungee Run game. It will be free of charge to play. El Reno Wal-Mart Foundation is funding a portion of the Children’s Stage entertainment. Main Street Information Booth (Codie Finnigan, 262-8888) -El Reno Carnegie Library and Historic Fort Reno will run the booth, which will be located beside the Children’s stage on Youngheim Centennial Plaza (corner of Russell and Bickford). Here you can pick up the El Reno Burger Day tab, which will have a map of the festival area and other information. This area is also lost and found, missing children, etc. -The El Reno Police Department will have a booth nearby that will promote the DARE, 2M2L programs, and kid’s safety. Other -Oklahoma Wing Commemorative Air Force will do flyovers during the day, contact Kathy Elder at 376-2440. -Canadian Valley Red Cross will be doing a “Burger Day Blood Drive”, contact Laney Butler, 262-5760. -Lucky Star Casino is providing a shuttle from the Main Stage Area to transport people to and from Lucky Star Casino after the Burger Day Stoney Larue Concert. -Great festival food is planned (Turkey Legs, Strawberry Crepes, Indian Tacos, Funnel Cakes, Hot Dog with Chili and Cheese, Pizza, Cheese fries, Ice Cream Truck, Baked Potato Bar and Build-a-Cake, German Roasted Almonds & Pecans, Cotton Candy, Pickles & Pretzels, Dipped fruits, BBQ: ribs and brisket, Spring Rolls and Fried Rice and BURGERS). Many vendors will be staying till 8 p.m. to have food available during the concert. -The Oklahoma National Guard, Pentecostals of El Reno, Oklahoma Lottery Commission and Laser Expedition will have vendor space at the festival. -Anticipate 20 craft booths. Items to be sold include: Puppets - will be demonstrating the art of puppetry to the children, Indian jewelry - deerskin and leather crafts, halos, wands, kitchen towels, plastic bag holders, bible covers, bookmarks, coaster, scratch pad covers, baby quilts, aprons, casserole carriers, stone & gem handmade jewelry, small handbags, leather items, gourds, jewelry, handmade signs, seasonal crafts, handmade soy candles, wax dipped bears, fragrance beads, small quilts and pillows, all handmade beaded magnetic jewelry with a work station to do custom sizes and orders while you wait, neck coolers, painted sea shell necklaces, album purses, hair bows, tutus, head bands, hats, flip flops, shirts, altered clipboards, custom photo albums, tile coasters, gift cans, hand poured candles, hand painted signs, custom candy jars, picture frames, pottery, purses, jewelry-yard art, pot holders, table clothes, machine embroidery items-burp cloths, kitchen towels, bath towels, bibs, aprons, canvas bags, throws, stain glass stepping stones, hand made photo books, wooden crosses, keepsake cedar, artwork w/poems, lasered plaques w/poems, mirror w/poems, hand carved bowls & baskets, sunglasses, etc. -T-shirt design was created by Chad Cox for ZCals, who will be making the Burger Day t-shirts. T-shirts will be for sale soon at Ross Seed Co./True Value and Medicine Chest Pharmacy – which will be the sole location for t-shirts the day of the festival. -Last year there were 2,324 volunteer hours tracked for this 7 hour event -O.F. (Burger Day mascot) will be there -Announcements will be made throughout the day over the downtown speaker system by Solid Rock Christian Center -Park View Hospital and Russell-Murray Hospice provides emergency personnel and a first aid station -The police and sheriff’s department does a wonderful job of providing a safe environment for festival goers, contact Officer Wilkerson at 262-6941 -The parks department and streets department are instrumental in assisting with festival set up, contact Jim Luckett at 262-4070 -The public school system assists with set up, contact Jeff Johnson at 262-5664 -A portion of the festival proceeds will benefit the Food For Kids Program in Canadian County. Their mission is to help the charitable community effectively feed people in need. To learn more about this program, visit their web site at www.regionalfoodbank.org A Special Thank You to Lucky Star Casino and Tyler Media for helping El Reno Main Street to sponsor the Food For Kids Program and the Stoney Larue concert. A big Thank You to all our sponsors who make the event possible: El Reno Main Street, Lucky Star Casino, Tyler Media, Downtown Businesses, Alfadale Stock Farms, Bank of Union, Beachler's Grocery Store, Canadian State Bank, Carnott's, Cavin's Wrecker Service, City of El Reno, Crimson Creek Golf Course, Dexter Axle, El Reno Chamber of Commerce, El Reno Firefighters, El Reno Public Schools, El Reno Rock Island Credit Union, El Reno Rotary Club, El Reno Sod Farm, El Reno Tribune, Gemini Industries Foundation, King Electric, Larry's Meats, Marianne's Rentals, MidFirst Bank, OG&E Electric Services, OK Beef Industry Council, OKC West, Oklahoma Environmental Management Authority, Oklahoma Natural Gas, Oklahoma Wheat Commission, Parkview Hospital, Preferred Properties, Reno Cinema 8, Rose Rock Bank, Tractor Supply Co., Wal-Mart Foundation and Ward Construction! |
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The Burger Day Festival is a tribute to the fried onion hamburger, cooked daily in El Reno since the early 1900’s. In Hamburgers & Fries: An American Story, author John T. Edge describes the history of El Reno’s fried onion hamburger. Edge tells of Ross Davis who owned and operated the Hamburger Inn on Route 66 in Downtown El Reno. Davis began making fried onion hamburgers in the twenties during the depression. Since onions were cheap and meat was expensive, Davis would add a half shredded onion atop a five cent meat patty and smash the burger with the back of his spatula. It made the burger look bigger, while adding a tremendous amount of flavor. John T. Edge explains how a local businessman and his idea became what is El Reno’s local delicacy, “Like other iconic American dishes, the taste for burgers laced with onions was wrought during days of privation. Eventually, acquired taste spurred localized tradition.” In 1988, the El Reno Main Street program was established to promote downtown revitalization. Part of any revitalization program is defining what your community is known for, what makes it special and unique. What your community offers that no other community can offer. The first Main Street Director, Carolyn Howard, met with downtown business owners and citizens to ask them, “What is El Reno known for”? The response was unanimous, “Fried Onion Hamburgers.” It was decided that this Fried Onion Burger Day Festival would revolve around the cooking of the World’s Largest Fried Onion Hamburger. Canadian Valley Technology Center was contacted to design and construct the equipment needed to cook this monstrous delicacy. The technology center created two major apparatuses, a twelve foot convection oven and a ten foot circular grill that could grill, rise, flip and lower a hamburger patty. The hard part was done. An invitation was given to all boys who had ever worked for one of the fried onion burger diners. The invitation was to receive a free burger day t-shirt in exchange for helping to cook the big hamburger. The event was developed and to be run by volunteer labor. The local fried onion hamburger diners donated meat and onions and the other necessities for cooking the World’s largest fried onion hamburger. When Burger Day began, there was Sid’s Diner, Johnnies Grill, and Robert’s Grill, all of which are still in operation today serving up their specialty fried onion delicacies. Sid’s Diner agreed to set up a grill in downtown to cook and serve hamburgers for the first Burger Day. A local car club arranged for a Car Show downtown, and the first Burger Day was born, May 7, 1989. The organizers were not fully prepared to manage their creation. There was a line of people two city blocks long all wanting a fried onion hamburger cooked in the middle of downtown El Reno. Sid Hall, then the owner of Sid’s Diner, had brought 200 hamburgers to cook, and within an hour Sid had to go get more meat and supplies to keep up with the increasing burger line. Festival organizers were amazed at what was happening. Sid ran errands all day getting hamburger meat, all the while wondering why people just didn’t go to one of the diners to get burgers other than waiting in line. When Sid drove past Robert’s and Johnnie’s Grill, he understood why: both places were packed with hungry customers! EVERYONE wanted to experience the ecstasy that only El Reno’s fried onion hamburgers could offer. Around three in the afternoon after waiting in line for a burger, David Eaton, local businessman and experienced griller, asked Marty if he was getting tired of grilling. David began helping his childhood friend meet the needs of these hungry festival goers. They were having fun conversing with festival goers who wanted to honor their heritage by celebrating Burger Day with their favorite local treat. Five in the afternoon marked the close of the first Fried Onion Burger Day Festival. The weather had been wonderful and 1,300 hamburgers had been sold. Around 8,000 people had shown up for fried onion hamburgers and the festivities. This year’s Burger Day marks the twentieth year, and people travel from around the world to attend. Last year’s crowd was estimated at 25,000 people. |
| Burger Day History |