Friday Fun - At the Pool

The Memorial Day Weekend marks the beginning of Summer for most of us. For this week's contest, I have picked a 1934 magazine ad showing a group of people enjoying themselves at a swimming pool. The ad appeared in Good Housekeeping Magazine and is somewhat unusual for the period as it uses black and white photography. Most ads from this period were created by commercial artists.

Your challenge is to create a witty caption for the ad by 5pm on June 3. A winnner will be announced on June 4.Good luck to everyone.

 

The First Ad for Coca-Cola

Did you know that on this day 123 years ago, the first ad for Coca-Cola was published in The Atlanta Journal? John Pemberton, the founder of Coca-Cola immediately advertised his product as "Delicious! Refreshing! Exhilirating! Invigorating!" I did an interview yesterday for City Cafe, an Atlanta public radio station show. In it, I talked about the very earliest days of Coke, and we were standing right outside the very location where Coca-Cola was first sold - Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta. Although nothing from the original pharmacy still exists, I thought you might enjoy seeing the first ad, and while you're at it, take a listen to the interview here.

We Have A Winner-Michigan City Delivery Truck

Listed below are the entries received for the caption contest:

http://www.coca-colaconversations.com/my_weblog/2009/05/friday-funmichigan-city-delivery-truck.html#comments

From these submissions, the judges selected "This sure beats the phone booth,"submitted by coca-cola news, as this week's winner.A lovely gift from our prize closet will be sent to the lucky winner.

Please check back tomorrow for a new caption contest.

Nordic Coca-Cola Collectors Club 15 Year Anniversary

Just in case your travel plans bring you to Norway in early June, I received a notice about meeting to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Nordic Coca-Cola Collectors Club in Olso on June 6.  If you were always looking for a reason to make a trip to Norway, here it is.

If you go, send me some photos and I will be happy to post them.

Steve Penley Coke Art Exhibit Video

The World of Coca-Cola celebrated their 2nd Anniversary this past Saturday. Part of the celebration included a new featured art exhibit in the pop culture gallery. You may recall that for the past year, Georgia artist Steve Penley had a Coke Art Exhibit in the gallery. I'd like to share this special video that was shown inside the exhibit as a part of the gallery.

Penley also has a piece in the new World of Coke exhibit, "Celebrating An Icon: The Coca-Cola Bottle in Contemporary Art." It features five contemporary artists from Georgia and California: Gordon Chandler, Comer Jennings, Steve Kaufman, Burton Morris, and Penley.

Michigan City Delivery Truck

For this week's contest,I have selected another photograph of a  1936 delivery vehicle, except that this one has a very unusual cargo. The truck comes from the Michigan City, Indiana Bottling Plant and is loaded with boys from the local YMCA whose memberships were purchased with proceeds from the sale of Coca-Cola at the Y.

Your challenge is to create a witty caption for this photograph before 5pm on Wednesday, May 27. A winner will be announced on May 28.

Let the entries begin!

We Have a Winner-Knoxville Delivery truck

The entries for last week's contest are listed below:

http://www.coca-colaconversations.com/my_weblog/2009/05/friday-funknoxville-delivery-truck.html#comments

The judges have carefully reviewed all of the submissions and have picked "Fueling theeconomy in 1909" as the winner. It was submitted by lionjulyscribe.

Please check back tomorrow for another caption contest.

Pemberton Creating the Secret Formula in his Lab

As I mentioned the week before last, Coca-Cola turned 123 years old on May 8th. How would you have liked to have been a fly on the wall when Coca-Cola inventor John Pemberton was in his lab formulating Coca-Cola?  I'm giving a presentation tomorrow on the early days of Coca-Cola, and I wanted to give people a glimpse of what it might have looked like with this video. Be sure to check out his mixing instrument!  Also included in this short video are some scenes of life at the popular gathering place at that time - the soda fountain. As you will see, fountain operators actually mixed Coca-Cola by hand with a spoon!  The times have really changed over the years. Enjoy.

Knoxville Delivery Truck

For this week's contest, I have selected a photograph from our collection that shows an early delivery truck in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1909. According to records in the Archives, this truck, produced by the Rapid Motor vehicle Company in Michigan, was the first truck in the city of Knoxville.

Your challenge is to create a witty caption for this photograph by 5pm on May 20. A winner will be announced on May 21. A small gift from our  prizecloset will be the reward for the winning entry. Good luck to all.

 

We Have a Winner-The Circus Comes to Town

The comments are in from last week's contest and can be seen below:

http://www.coca-colaconversations.com/my_weblog/2009/05/friday-funthe-circus-comes-to-town.html#comments

Our judges have cast their ballots and selected:

"HURRY! Get in line for a coke! Get ahead of the elephants or there won't be anything left! Posted by Alaskan.

Thanks to everybody who participated. Please check back tomorrow for a new contest.