Murray Wood: A special Grey Cup edition of who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week, Wood is pre...
With the Grey Cup only days away, one Winnipeg grocer is stocking up on some quintessential Roughriders gear.
Extra watermelons can be found at the Save-On-Foods Bridgwater location in Winnipeg, according to Seth Schneckenburger, the store’s produce manager.
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He said as of Thursday, the store had one bin, containing roughly 60 watermelons, but more are on the way.
Another bin is scheduled to arrive on Saturday, and depending on “how those fly through,” Schneckenburger said he’d make the call on whether or not to order even more.
He said the decision to stock up on watermelons was made two to three weeks ago during a budget meeting, when he brought up how the store “might go through a bit more” melons than usual.
Saskatchewan Roughriders fans chow down on watermelons ahead of a CFL game in Regina. (Saskatchewan Roughriders/Submitted)
While Schneckenburger said it’s not unusual to carry watermelons at this time of year, it’s not something that would normally get put onto the sales floor, “just because of its high price point.”
During Grey Cup weekend, though, things are a bit different.
“We do set up like a bin with some watermelon in there for customers to grab through, and they can definitely buy them themselves,” he said.
The Bridgwater store isn’t directly on the way for Riders fans heading to Princess Auto Stadium, but it is on the same side of the city. Plus, for Schneckenburger, it’s about letting customers – even those from outside of the province – know “that we’re going to keep stock for them.”
He said the store hasn’t had a ton of watermelon sales yet, but that could change by this weekend, especially since he’s already noticed an influx of new customers.
“I do want to keep them on hand,” Schneckenburger said.
A juicy tradition
The melon head tradition – the practice of carving out a melon and wearing it on your head – has been a tradition among Riders fans since 2001.
Trent Fraser, who served as the director of marketing for the club from 2000 to 2004, said in the fall of 2000, during a Winnipeg game, he saw, “two young people with green long underwear on and Saskatchewan flags tied to their backs like superheroes.”
On top of their heads were watermelons carved “into the shape of a football helmet,” Fraser said.
He ended up taking the idea back to the team’s staff in Regina, and in 2001 they did “a commercial featuring the melon head and had a melon head hero campaign.”
Fraser said he couldn’t believe how successful the melon head trend became among Rider fans.
–with files from 650 CKOM
