By Cara Pattison
Contributing Writer
Ten participants… unlimited hot dogs… and 10 short minutes.
In the end, only one person could be the true wiener of Yukon’s 14th Annual July 4th Hot Dog Eating Contest.
Held at a shaded, outdoor stage in Yukon City Park during Freedom Fest, these brave food warriors scarfed down as many hot dogs as they could muster within a 10-minute time span.
The event was organized by Yukon Parks & Recreation special events Coordinator Patrick Langley, and emceed by “The Roving DJ”, Benjamin Cobb. Helping Langley on-stage were 14 YPR staff members.
“I prepared 200 hot dogs and buns in the Community Center kitchen prior to the event,” Langley said. “During the contest, we had someone watching each contestant, two people restocking hot dogs, one person restocking water, and I timed the event.”
The rules were quite frank:
- Event staff placed 10 minutes on the clock for contestants eat as many hot dogs as possible.
- Participants had to eat the entire hot dog and bun for it to count in their total eaten.
- The competitors could dunk the hot dog and bun in water, and dog and bun could be separated – as long as both were consumed in the allotted time.
The 10 participants were: Traven Scott, Angel Garza, Sutton Clark, Bob Cowan, Ryan Schaeffer, Frank “The Tank” Smith, Jason Ghomrawi, Allen Ivanoff, Wesley Samuels, and Colby King.
Each participant was given 10 hot dogs wrapped in buns to kick-off the event.
TOP DOG
In the end, the “Top Dog” ended up being Allen Ivanoff with 15 dogs thrown down the hatch.
Ivanoff relished every moment of his victory after being handed the ceremonious championship trophy belt – which was good for a year of bragging rights.
The second-place winner was Angel Garza with 13 hot dogs and buns eaten.
Last year, he downed seven hot dogs and buns, and beat his record.
The third-place winner was Traven Scott with 11 consumed franks and buns.
At the end of the day, Langley received plenty of positive feedback for hosting the event.
“One of the participants told me how much he appreciated the event, that it’s a fun thing to do, and it gives him something to talk about with his friends,” Langley shared. “He also said he’s coming back each year until he wins.”
Freedom Fest 2023 sponsors were YNB, The Kirkpatrick Family Fund, iHeart Media, 96.1 KXY, The Oklahoma Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Schwarz Paving Company, Krapff Reynolds Construction Company, Wesco Insurance Services, Oklahoma Natural Gas, BOK Financial Securities, OG&E, Yanda & Son Funeral Home and Cremation Services, BancFirst, and INTEGRIS Canadian Valley Hospital.
