ALEXANDRIA — Recent shoppers at Elden's Fresh Foods have surely seen the ATV on display near the front door. It was there as part of a contest sponsored by Viking Coca-Cola Bottling Company that gave away five ATVs overall.
Of those five, two of the winners come from the Alexandria area. They are Ron Fuchs of Alexandria and Sam Zwieg, who lives by Kensington.
"We are so happy for you guys that you won it," said Elliot Christenson, co-owner of Elden's. "It's so nice, because we've done many contests throughout the years, and really this is, I think, the first big one that we've had."
"It's great," Fuchs said. "When you walk right in the door it was right there, so it was easy to see. I always wanted an ATV. I was shopping to buy one, and I guess I waited at just the right time."
Zwieg said she signed up for the contest at the insistence of her daughter.
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"She just said, 'Mom, we gotta have it,'" Zwieg said.
Darin Carlson, vice president of sales and marketing for Viking Coca-Cola, said the contest was exclusive to Viking.
"We had hundreds of stores participate, so to have two winners at this one store was really amazing," Carlson said. "Elden's supported us like no other store, had one of the biggest displays. We're really happy to see the winners here in Alexandria."
Jay Mendel, franchise manager for Coca-Cola, said, "From the company's perspective, whenever you can activate something like this locally, so that you can touch the consumer that visits Elden's, is exactly what we want to do."
Zwieg said she and her husband, Joe, are avid hunters and own a truck and tractor repair company, so their ATV "probably will be put to use."
Fuchs said he has put 30 miles on his ATV already.
"I took it out to my son's and we drove around," he said. "It has plenty of power. It's nice and loud, so they know you're coming."