From Michael Miller : BOOK: A Collector's Guide to Arizona Bottles & Stoneware. For ordering information, contact: Michael Miller, 9214 W. Gary Road, Peoria, AZ 85345, PH: (623) 486-3123 or by E-mail: helgramike@earthlink.net.

From Don Yates : NEW BOOK! Ginger Beer & Root Beer Heritage, 400 pages, all photos in full-color. $30.00 + $4.00 S/H. Contact: Don Yates, 8300 River Corners Road, Homerville, OH 44235; Phone: (330) 625-1025.

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

From Mike : I am looking for all wide-mouth, glass, 1 & 2-liter, soda bottles from the 1970s and ‘80s: Coke, Dr. Pepper, 7-up, Squirt etceteras. I am also interested in information that will lead me to these bottles.

From Keith : Looking for all types of Vernor's Ginger Ale advertising. Cardboard signs, tin signs, fountain dispensers, spoons, bottle toppers, clocks - and much more - wanted by advanced collector. The more unusual the piece the better it is! Please contact me at my email address or call 586-615-9152. Thanks!

There are also WANTED 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

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will be the backdrop for the world’s premier action sports competition at Cleveland’s North Coast Harbor September 10–14 for the five-day event. The Gravity Games will air on NBC Sports this Fall, and will include a first-ever live broadcast on Sunday, September 14. Over 200 of the world’s best professional athletes in action sports are expected to throw down for the top honors in Freestyle Motocross, Skateboarding, Wakeboarding, BMX and Aggressive In-Line Skating. In addition to these world-class athletes, the event will feature performances from some of today’s top recording artists. Over 200,000 spectators are expected in Cleveland, and SoBe will be on hand to fire up the fans, support Team Lizard and spread the SoBe love.

Pepsi has chosen Drew Carey to host its TV special on The WB this fall, "Pepsi Play for a Billion." Contestants will win a chance to appear on the show, a two-hour special in September, by participating in a summer-long promotion from Pepsi.

Hawaiian Punch and its longtime spokesman, Punchy, will be mixing it up with consumers this summer as they travel throughout the country with the Hawaiian Punch Clownin' Around Tour. Between May and August 2003, Hawaiian Punch's Clownin' Around Tour will visit 18 U.S. cities and give consumers the chance to sample the new Hawaiian Punch flavors – Bodacious Berry, 'Mazin Melon Mix and Green Berry Rush – as well as take part in spontaneous street party activities in urban settings – from parks and community swimming pools to street festivals and retail stores.

The fresh blast of orange flavor is one of America's favorites, and Slush Puppie is serving it up this summer in a refreshing, frozen beverage aptly named ‘Frozen Orange Frenzy.'

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

May 24 (Saturday) Gainesville, Florida
Matheson Museum's 2nd Annual Antique Bottle Show & Sale 
(Sat. 9 AM - 3 PM; early admission 8 AM) at Matheson Museum
513 E. University Ave., Gainesville, Florida
INFO: LISA AUEL, 513 E. University Ave., Gainesville, FL 32601
PH: (352) 378-2280, E-mail: mathesonmuseum@usa.net 

May 24-25 (Saturday-Sunday) Coarsegold, California
Fresno Antique Bottle & Collectible Club's 2nd Annual Show
Runs concurrently with the Coarsegold & Oakhurst Peddlers Fair
(Sat. 7 AM - 5 PM, Sun. 7 AM - 4 PM) at the Coarsegold Veterans Hall
Coarsegold, California (30 miles N. E. of Fresno)
INFO: JOE ROTHERMEL, PH: (559) 292-2110
or GARY EGOROV, P. O. Box 16066, Fresno, CA 93755
PH: (559) 225-1709, E-mail: garyegorov@yahoo.com 

May 25 (Sunday) Hemel, England
Hemel Hempstead Bottle & Collectors Fair
(Sun. 10 AM - 4 PM) at the Hemel Market, Hemel, England
INFO: PAM COOPER, 60 Chestnut Ave., Spixworth, Norwich, Norfold NR10 3QO, England
PH: 011 44 160 389 0302

The New South Wales Chapter of the Coca-Cola Collectors Club is holding their annual giant swap meet at the South Hurstville RSL, 71 Connells Point Road, South Hurstville, NSW, Australia on Sunday May 25, 2003 from 10:30am-2pm. Admission is Free. For additional information, please contact Brian Hill, at +61-407-922-291. 

Smokyfest 2003 will be held at the Holiday Inn in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee from June 5-7, 2003. Events will include welcome party, silent auction, swap meet, scavenger hunt, banquet and room hopping. For more information, please contact Jean Waddell, 686 Antioch Road, Cedartown, GA 30125. Please call toll free for hotel reservations (800) 782-3119.

June 21, 2003 - Houston, Texas (9am - 4pm)
Gulf Coast Bottle & Jar Club presents their 34th Annual Antique Bottle, Advertising and Collectibles Show and Sale - at the Marriott (formerly Radisson Hotel) 9100 Gulf Freeway, Houston, Texas 77017 (713)943-7979. Admission $2. Early admission Friday night June 20th - 7-10:30 pm - $10. per person. Wide variety of bottles, cans, fruit jars, inks, milk bottles, drug store collectibles - Coca Cola - Dr. Pepper - 7 UP - Orange Crush, Texas memorabilia, oil company items, and lots lots more! For Sales Table and Show Information, please contact Barbara Puckett, 907 W. Temple, Houston, TX 77009, (713) 862-1690 or e-mail for information - bjcoll@hotmail.com or red1@wt.net.

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

I made it to Mansfield, only getting lost twice, or was it three times, because I missed a turn-off. Got there, and they'd given my tables to someone else. So after the chaos, and the dust settled from my tantrum, tables appeared out of nowhere, life went on and the day turned out to be great.

For those of you I got to meet - it was great to meet you. For those of you that I didn't get to meet, I will be in Knoxville on June 14th, as far as I know, and in Louisville for the FOHBC National Show, June 28-29th. I will have sample issues of Bottles & Extras with me, as well as sample issues of Soda Pop Dreams,  the printed edition of the Soda Fizz and a few copies of the ACL bottle book. So look for me there!

I am currently doing the Summer issue of B&E, so a bit busy with that. DO E-mail me with your stories, new finds, Missing Items, Questions and anything else you want to share. That is what the Fizz is all about!

Until next week, Happy Collecting! CokeGirl

By Wayne Burgess

Like all of them before it, Pepsi Fest 2003 took forever to arrive, yet seemed to be over in one pleasurable moment. This year marked the 17th gathering of Pepsi-Cola and Mountain Dew collectors. It spanned all five floors of the Marriott, which made it truly an adventure. Attendees came from all over the United States, some for the first-time, and for others, it was their 17th show in a row. I salute those 17-year veterans, as I understand what keeps them coming back.

The events at Pepsi Fest kept visitors very busy. Included in the festivities were Chapter Meetings, Room Hopping, Show and Tell, Oral Auction, Be Sociable Party, Silent Auction, group pictures, Swap Meet and to end it all: the Farewell Dinner. 

Just in case you do not know what room hopping is, here is a short description. Imagine room after room of open doors and the inside of each room - endless collectible items spread across every flat surface, just waiting for a new home. As you "hop" from room-to-room, looking for that treasure to add to your collection, you best not pass anything up that you are interested in purchasing. Why? First of all, someone else may snatch it up before you can return, and second, after walking through 40 to 50 rooms, they will all seem to blend together after a while, and you may never remember which room to return to.

Pepsi Fest is a friends-and-family event, and you should quickly realize that you are a member of a huge family of collectors. The friendships that develop at Pepsi Fest are unique. You may only see these friends once a year, but when you return to Pepsi Fest, communication spans the gathering.

This year was no different than the rest in that there were never-seen-before  items that emerged, from Pepsi signs to Mountain Dew promotional three-ring binders. Some items are brought to Pepsi fest just for show and tell, and are not intended to be sold. One of the highest priced items sold was a 1951 bubbling Pepsi-Cola sign for $2500. 

Over 600 people registered for Pepsi Fest 17. Next year, again the number will probably grow. 

If you did not make it this year, start planning for it next year. The dates are Thursday, March 18th through Saturday, March 20th, 2004 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Wayne Burgess is a Mountain Dew collector and also publishes a newsletter dedicated to Mountain Dew collecting. Visit his website @ http://www.mountaindewbottles.com. 

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