Oscar Mayer Weinermobile rolls through Washington
by Karen mansfield
Niki “Nicoleslaw” Sasiela, right, a Hotdogger for Oscar Mayer, hand Rob Mundell, left, of Washington, a wienermobile whistle after Mundell took a look at the frankfurter on wheels, which stopped in Washington over the weekend.
Karen Mansfield/ Observer-Reporter
Rob Mundell of Washington poses in front of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, the iconic rolling billboard that stopped in Washington on Saturday.
by Karen mansfield
Niki Sasiela, aka “Nicoleslaw,” is a Hotdogger who criss-crosses the country in the Wienermobile with her partner, Marcelo “Mustard Marcelo” Nylund, to promote the Oscar Mayer brand.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Hotdogger Niki “Nicoleslaw” Sasiela prepares to enter the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, which visited Washington County this weekend.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
The interior of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile features ketchup-and-mustard-colored decor. The vehicle rolled into Washington Saturday.
On Saturday – a day cold enough to freeze your buns off – the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile rolled into Washington, to the delight of passersby, who stopped to snap pictures of the iconic vehicle parked in front of Walmart.
At the helm of the giant frankfurter on wheels were DePaul University graduate Niki “Nicoleslaw” Sasiela and her fellow Hotdogger and co-pilot Marcelo Nylund, aka “Mustard Marcelo.”
The pair swung through Washington to spread Oscar Mayer’s brand of joy, love, and happiness and help recruit drivers and promoters, called Hotdoggers, from the area.
Hotdogger is, indeed, a paying, yearlong gig, where six teams of enthusiastic recent college graduates spend a year crisscrossing the country to meet people and dole out mini hot dog whistles, stickers, and smiles – and, on this trip, to help find next year’s teams.
The deadline to apply is January 31, so for those who wish they were an Oscar Mayer Hotdogger, and that is what they’d truly like to be, visit the website at https://careers.kraftheinz.com/careers/PipelineDetail/Wienermobile-Spokesperson/41771.
“Our main goal is to spread smiles and share happiness with people any place we stop,” said Sasiela. “People are waving and smiling everywhere you go. Even when we’re driving, people are honking and waving and taking pictures. You literally make people happy.”
“I didn’t even know these were still around!” exclaimed Rob Mundell of Washington, who asked Sasiela to take a photo of him in front of the bun-shaped vehicle.
He happily accepted a Wienermobile-shaped whistle that Sasiela offered him (the two-inch whistle used to be included in hot dog packages).
Only a small fraction of applicants cut the mustard, though, and become Hotdoggers.
“For Marcelo’s and my year, they had about 4,000 applicants for the 12 spots. It’s very, very competitive,” said Sasiela, pointing out that more people have traveled to space than have driven a Wienermobile.
Oscar Mayer first introduced the Wienermobile in 1936, at the height of the Great Depression, intending to bring joy to people in Chicago.
Over the years, the rolling dogs have received many updates. The interior of the current fleet of Wienermobiles features six seats, a ceiling with a painting of a blue sky and ketchup- and-mustard-colored floors, and a curved windshield dubbed the “Wienshield.”
Today’s Wienermobiles are 27 feet long (60 hot dogs long) and 11 feet high (24 hot dogs high).
“It’s a lot of fun to drive. You meet a lot of cool people along the way,” said Sasiela, noting there is no bathroom or kitchen on board.
“It’s not a weenie-bago, even though it drives like one,” Sasiela joked.
The Wienermobile horn plays the famous Oscar Mayer wiener jingle in 21 musical varieties, including rap and cajun.
Hotdoggers visit a different city each week and participate in family-friendly and charity events.
A native of Saginaw, Mich., Sasiela has steered the mustard-colored piece of American pop culture to 20 states in the past 7 months.
Saturday’s visit marked her first trip to the Pittsburgh area, and one of her first stops was at Primanti’s, where she enjoyed the city’s own iconic sandwich piled high with – ironically – coleslaw and French fries.
Here’s a fun fact: Sasiela and her family have owned four Dachshunds and will soon be adding another to the family.
Sasiela has, frankly, relished the Hotdogger role.
“This has been a great way to explore the country and see new places and meet new people,” said Sasiela.
Appropriately, Sasiela loves hot dogs. Her favorite frankfurter is a toss-up between a Chicago dog and a Coney dog. Nylund, a Syracuse University graduate, favors Chicago dogs – poppyseed bun, yellow mustard, sweet green pickle relish, onion, tomato, dill pickle, sports peppers, celery salt, and hold the ketchup.
Sasiela, who graduated with a degree in public relations and advertising, stumbled across the Hotdoggers position by accident and applied on a whim.
“If you told me a year ago that I’d be driving a Wienermobile, I wouldn’t have believed it,” she said. “I have a passion for community outreach and development, and we get involved with communities, so that’s been rewarding.”