The Big Idaho® Potato Truck is currently on its 13th cross-country journey. It began in 2012 as a one-year campaign to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Idaho Potato Commission and became quickly apparent with its success that it would be more than a one-year occurrence, it literally became a big piece of pop-culture. Currently, it’s in Ocean City, MD with its next stop in Norfolk, VA.
The truck travels the country promoting the American Heart Association and American Diabetes Association and its mission to help small charities in towns and cities with its ‘A Big Helping’ program. Not to mention that people just want to have their picture taken with a 4-Ton Idaho potato.
Is it real? If it was, The Big Idaho® Potato would take more than 7,000 years to grow. You would have to wait two years for it to bake. If you have a large crowd to feed, this tater would make 20,217 servings of mashed potatoes and almost 1 million (970,380) average-sized fries! It is 802 times heavier than the largest potato ever grown, which weighed 11 pounds. But, it’s not real.
The truck was recently involved in a Memorial Day parade in DC and has been parked at Jolly Rogers on 30th street after rain postponed its appearance at Parsons Farm in Dagsboro, DE. The appearance has been rescheduled for June 25th and the truck is now preparing to leave for the Norfolk Harbor Fest from June 6th-June 8th.