From Richard Mix : I working on buying several very large collections that will give us lots of new fresh items and sought after bottles - lots of 75ths, 10oz talls, shorts, etc. - SEND YOUR WANT LISTS!!

From Blair Matthews, Editor of Soda Pop Dreams Magazine : Vol.5 of the Back Issues CD is available for sale via the website. Price for this new CD (which contains Issues #24-28) is only $9.95 US for a limited time and includes postage!! All the details can be found at: http://www.pww.on.ca/store.htm

From Eddie Dalton : I have a mint 1951 ABCB convention bottle from Washington, DC. If anyone is interested, I will send pictures. I saw one sell for over $220. recently and would like to get around $200 for mine. Thanks!

From Paul : I have a friend who has a large coke collection that he wants to sell that would value $150,000 to $200,000. Anyone interested?

Also if anyone else has bottles or other soda-related items to offer, E-mail and let us all know.

Be sure to send me your UP FOR GRABS item listings! E-mail to: Up For Grabs 

From BJ Puckett : I am looking for any kind of North Dakota old bottle - Also any bottle with Mahon on it. Email me!

From Mike Bryant : $REWARD$ Will pay top dollar for a 30 BELOW acl soda from San Diego, California. Also want other San Diego area bottles - embossed or acl. Phone: (828) 851-2787 or by E-mail.

There are also Recently updated! WANTED and FOR SALE items listed <here> at the bottom of the page.

Do you have a particular item, or items, that you have been looking for a long time to complete part of your collection, or something you want - but have not as yet been able to find? Send it so all of us can help you look. You never know where it may turn up! E-mail it to My Missing Item

In affirmation of an already strong marketing alliance, United Airlines and Pepsi-Cola North America has announced United as the official airline of the "Pepsi Play for a Billion" summer promotion and fall television special. Set to air in September on The WB and hosted by comedian Drew Carey, the live, two-hour show will bring together 1,000 contestants randomly selected as part of the Pepsi Play for a Billion promotion, which continues in stores through August 15. United will provide transportation to each of the eligible contestants, including dedicating chartered flights to the show’s studio in Orlando. On the show, United Airlines will offer one lucky winner and three guests of their choosing an around-the-world trip prize package. To play, log on to www.billionsweeps.com and enter codes found on specially marked Pepsi, Mountain Dew and Sierra Mist products or mail your codes to the sweepstakes entry address on the package. 

A Coca-Cola bottle dress sold for 4,465 Euros at Christie's Auction in Paris. The item sold for three times the original projected price. The item belonged to designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. Another item, a clock incorporating Coke bottles by the artist Tom Sachs sold for 9,400 Euros.

More than 430 Howard Johnson hotels throughout the United States and Canada are teaming up with Coca-Cola to offer guests a chance to win prize packages including $500 cash, color televisions, entertainment equipment and barbeque grills as well as discounts on DVDs, books and restaurants. Guests will receive a Vacation Values booklet containing coupons and information for the Coca-Cola-sponsored summer sweepstakes. Guests may mail their entry forms or enter the sweepstakes online at http://www.howardjohnson.com/. Entries must be postmarked by Sept. 3 and received or submitted online by Sept. 12. No purchase is necessary to enter.

New bottles or cans, or anything soda, in your area ?
Please send the info so all of us can know @ Whats New

JULY 18-19  -  ADAMSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
Shupp’s Grove 2^nd Annual Bottle Festival (Fri. & Sat. 6 AM – dusk) at Shupp’s Grove, Adamstown, Pennsylvania. INFO: STEVE GUION, PH: (717) 560-9480, E-mail: affinityinsurance@dejazzd.com or JERE HAMBLETON, PH: (717) 393—5175, E-mail: jsdetector@webtv.net.  

JULY 19  -  MERLIN, OREGON
Jefferson State Insulator Club's Backyard Swap Meet (Sat.) at the home of Howard & Linda Banks, 1560 Hugo Rd., Merlin, Oregon. INFO: HOWARD & LINDA BANKS, PH: (541) 479-8348, E-Mail: hbanks@grantspass.com.

If you would like to view the full 'events calendar,' I now maintain  < click here>.
Any new events  in your area? E-mail it so all of us can know, to: Upcoming Events

It has been a quiet last week in Tennessee. I managed to get some weeds pulled and some organizing of my files done. It amazes me how much stuff can pile up when you aren't looking. But I am happy to say, that at least for the time being, my files are in order, and I may - I stress "may" - be able to find something when I need it. I will just have to remember where I put it when I "organized" everything.

I did manage to get the Louisville show photos uploaded into my computer. Next step. upload them online. You will be the first to know when I do, I promise.

I am excited about some old bottle magazines that are supposed to be on their way to me. I look forward to seeing them, and hope there is some information in them I can share with you, as well as my Bottles & Extras bunch. I have some issues of the Western Collector and most of the B&E issues from 1995 on, so check out the article listing on the fohbc.com website and if there is an article you'd want to read, let me know.

Also, for those of you who subscribe to the printed edition of The Soda Fizz Magazine, look for some news in it! I am quite excited about it - and hope you will be too.

Until next time, Happy Collecting! CokeGirl

The beginning
It was not long after WWII had ended, things were humming in Houlton, Maine, and Tom Fitzpatrick and his brothers Jerry, Paul and Louis opened a dance hall and restaurant. All went well with one exception, their local soda source couldn't keep up with the brothers' demand. When Tom expressed concern, he was told, ":If you're not happy, go start your own bottling plant."

Well, that is just what the brothers did, building a combination bottling plant and new dance hall/restaurant in 1948. The bottling operation, however, was always the core of the business. It peaked in 1955, due to what Tom remembers as a hot summer.

But problems were on the horizon. The giants, Coke and Pepsi, began to go into flavors - orange, root beer, etc. - in the early 60s, which hurt local bottlers who counted on the lion's share of the non-cola market. Then chain supermarkets began to dominate and they wanted national accounts. There was also attrition in the ranks of the brothers. Jerry dropped out of the partnership in 1952, Louis circa 1963 and in 1967, Paul left too.

Tom operated the bottling business alone until 1969, when he decided he'd rather be Houlton's Town Assessor. Prior to this, he had been part-time Assessor. He sold to his nephew, John Fitzpatrick, who run things until the end, in 1971. 

From a Bytes post dated June 12, 2003 :

Fitz's American Grill and Bottling Works has been acquired by two investors with local market, management and beverage industry expertise: Clayton Capital Partners and Bob Gunthner, a former beverage marketing executive for Anheuser-Busch. The two bought the 56-year-old brand, which includes a restaurant in the University City Loop and a bottling line, from the Westgate Group. Clayton Capital Partners, an investment and merchant banking firm headquartered in St. Louis, is now the company's majority owner.

"Adding Fitz's to Clayton Capital Partners' investment portfolio is a continuation of our strategy of focusing on local companies and brands having high-growth potential," stated Brent Baxter, principal, Clayton Capital Partners. 

"We are extremely pleased with last year's investment in St. Louis-based Lucia's frozen pizzas and are confident that Fitz's will mirror the success of Lucia's," added Kevin Short, principal, Clayton Capital Partners. 

Bob Gunthner, who brings more than 20 years of beverage marketing and management experience to Fitz's, will serve as the company's managing partner. In 1947, the recipe for Fitz's Root Beer was developed in St. Louis with the help of a local flavor house. The enterprise has since grown to brew Root Beer, Diet Root Beer, Cream Soda, Diet Cream Soda, Ginger Ale, Grape Pop, Hip Hop Pop and Orange Pop. In 1993, Fitz's Restaurant opened in the University City Loop. In addition to the restaurant, Fitz's beverages are sold at many area grocery stores as well as restaurants throughout the country. For additional information, please call (314) 726-9555. 

Sorry, I cannot provide the missing portion of Fitz's history from 1971 until mention is made in the above paragraph of its reopening in 1993. But it is nice to know that it is possible for the names we have on the bottles we collect to find a new life in the present. CG.

If you have a soda-related subject that you would like to see here as an "FYI" article, or have information you yourself would like to contribute, don't be shy, send it to: FYI Idea