Hot Dog Heaven

If there’s one way to show Newton residents fall is here, it’s with hot dogs designs they’ve never seen before.

Under new management from Newton Main Street, the 13th annual Thanks with Franks event began at 6 p.m. Thursday on the courthouse lawn, drawing in hundreds of guests and least 27 booths staffed by local businesses and organizations.

The tents were set up on the courthouse lawn and spread out in the streets on the square.

One of those booths represented Ramsey-Weeks, Inc. The Newton business prepared hot dog bites, which served chopped up hot dogs along with red and green peppers and onions topped off with cheese.

Penny Gable, a Ramsey-Weeks, Inc. employee, served the hot dog bites. Gable said it was the first time the business was represented at Thanks with Franks.

“We’ve been in Newton for almost a year. We were just looking to be part of the community and get some name recognition,” Gable said. “We wanted to cook something bite-sized while using one roaster.”

Many businesses got their fair share of recognition at Thanks with Franks for the first time. One example is Windstream, the communications provider that’s been around Newton for years but was also serving at the event for the first time.

Rose Farver, call center consultant, said they went with a bacon, lettuce and tomato (BLT) hot dog.

“We actually took a vote among everybody at the (office), and the popular one won,” Farver said. “The BLT hot dog was something tasty, but something different from an ordinary hot dog. It was something that would appeal to a lot of people.”

There were plenty of hot dogs to enjoy, while some ideas were a bit edgy. Example: a hot dog topped with M&Ms by Iowa Speedway. Haylee White said she had no choice but to eat the M&Ms separate.

“I love it here, and the pickle dog, too,” White said.

The event brought out people of all ages and allowed them to set up their lawn chairs and blankets in and along the courthouse lawn, like with Frank and Janet Harger, who were hanging out eating taco hot dogs and corn hot dogs.

“It’s awesome,” Janet said. “You meet people that you haven’t seen in forever.”

According to previous reports, the maximum number of businesses, represented as teams, was at 50. Up to 5,700 hot dogs have been handed out in past years, and 10,000 hot dogs have been handed out in other years within one hour.

As the dogs were wrapped up and the booths torn down after a quick hour, many guests went to the voting booth, set up by Newton Main Street, to vote on their favorite hot dog. The winning booth was TPI Composites, Inc. with their breakfast dog, said Graham Sullivan, Newton Main Street director.

“I was very satisfied (with the turnout),” Sullivan said. “The cinnamon roll dog was the first one to be done. It was a great night.”

Contact Orrin Shawl at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or at oshawl@newtondailynews.com