For those of you who live near a Wawa, rejoice!  It’s HoagieFest 2009!  For those of you who don’t live near a Wawa, consider moving.

I can’t think of anything that fits the spirit of Life in Awesomeopolis better than HoagieFest.  It takes something already awesome, Wawa, and layers on top of it some pure unadulterated awesomeness.  HoagieFest comes in two parts, plus the intangible joy that is the HoagieFest season.

The first of the concrete aspects is a series of discounts, where for four consecutive fortnights a different Shorti Hoagie is on sale for $2.99.  From June 1st to July 26th, the lineup is: Italian (current), followed by Cheesesteak (chicken or regular, I believe), Turkey, and Meatball Sub.  Shortis come on whole wheat or regular 6″ rolls.

The second concrete aspect is the actual HoagieFests, held in different states at Wawa locations (Philadelphia’s is on June 24th, 11:30AM at 2600 Grant Avenue).  These festivals will feature eating contests (with charitable donations made on behalf of each participant), give-aways of t-shirts and buttons and food, and a quarter mile hoagie!  (That’s the equivalent of 2,640 shortis, and will be made available to attendees free of charge!)  Finally, there will be Kara-Hoagie contests, which is karaoke revolving around HoagieFest’s 6 songs, Beatles songs rewritten to be about hoagies.  They are quite excellent.

This is a fantastic celebration of a sandwich that has many names (sub, hoagie, grinder, dagwood, etc.), but which was borne in Philadelphia as Hoagie.

For more information, and for the HoagieFest songs, please visit http://hoagiefest.com.