From Steve Ketcham : I am helping a friend sell a few items. She has two full ACL Dr. Pepper bottles from Albert Lea, Minnesota. They are marked "Colonel Albert Lea Day, July 4, 1979, Albert Lea Minnesota." I will accept fair offers. Contact me at this E-mail or call 952-920-4205.

From Jim Maxwell : I have a nice collection of 7Up items and have lots of duplicates for trade or sale. Contact me if interested.
If you remember, Jim was the one who suggested a 7Up Collectors Club. 

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

From Bob Robinson : I am always looking for Coca-Cola, Fanta, or Sprite yo-yo's. 
Rob's Website: http://users.senet.com.au/~robbos 

From Sheryl : My husband and I used to collect Coke trays, but are now into other types of collecting and have some original Coke trays for sale. Serious inquiries, please contact me.

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

From Udo Burkandt, South Australia : Here is an Australian Coca-Cola bottle I just found out about - a plastic, 300ml bottle commemorating the completion of Phase 1 of the Coca-Cola Cavan Blow-Moulding Plant, 5th April 2000. It is filled with granules of the plastic used to make the bottle. My Website: www.alwayscc.com. 

From Mike Elling, Sharon, Tennessee : The Waco Dr Pepper Museum has released a series of Dr Pepper glasses. One of the more interesting is a "Dietetic Dr Pepper" logo. They are available online and can be ordered at: www.drpeppermuseum.com.

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

OCTOBER 11  -  ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA ~NEW~
Pennsylvania Antique Bottle, Breweriana & Advertising Fall Show & Sale (Sat. 9:30 AM – 2:30 PM, early admission 8 AM) at the Merchant’s Square Antique Mall, 12^th & Vultee St., Allentown, Pennsylvania. INFO: Mark Zeppenfelt, 4881 Cypress St., Wescosville, PA  18106, PH: (610) 391-0271, E-mail: uuubuy@aol.com.

The Annual Beach Party sponsored by the Old Dominion Chapter of the Coca-Cola Collectors Club will be held October 16-18, 2003 at the Sandcastle Oceanfront Resort Hotel in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Events will include a welcome party, auction, swap meet, social hour, banquet and room hopping. For more information, please contact Greg Dail, 1204 Masters Row, Chesapeake, VA 23320, Phone: (757) 547-4918 or coke1sthe1@aol.com. The hotel number is 1-800-233-131 and its website: www.sandcastle-vabeach.com. 

The 29th Annual Minnefest will be held October 17-18, 2003 at the Holiday Inn MLPS-West, 9970 Wayzata Blvd, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55426. This year's theme is "Fill'er Up with Coke." Events will include private collection tour, silent and regular auctions, swap meet, banquet and room hopping. For more information, please contact Mike Geiser, 7827 Irish Ave S. Cottage Grove MN 55016. Holiday Inn phone number is +1-952-593-1918 or +1-800-HOLIDAY.

OCTOBER 18  -  SAVANNAH, GEORGIA 
The 6^th Annual Savannah Bottle Show & Sale (Sat.) at the National Guard Armory, Eisenhower Dr., Savannah, Georgia. INFO: David Powell, 2617 Salcedo Ave., Savannah, GA  31406, PH: (912) 354-3576, Web site: http://www.savannahshow.com.

OCTOBER 18  -  AYLESBURY, ENGLAND 
National Society Collectors Fairs Annual Autumn Bottle & Collectibles Show & Sale (Sat. 11 AM – 1 PM, early admission 9 AM) at the Aylesbury Civic Center, Aylesbury, England. INFO: Pam Ball, 2 Pound Cottage, Blackthorn, Bicester, Oxon, England  OX25 1TE, PH/FAX: 011 44 186 924 1107.

OCTOBER 18 - 19  -  CHEHALIS, WASHINGTON
Washington Bottle Collectors Association’s Annual Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM – 3 PM, early admission Sat. 2 PM – 7 PM) at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds, I-5 exit 79, Chehalis, Washington. INFO: Pete Hendricks, PH: (253) 874-6345 or Warren Lhotka, PH: (206) 329-8412, E-mail: wlbottleguy@yahoo.com.

OCTOBER 19  -  SCRIBA, NEW YORK  
Empire State Bottle Collectors Association’s 5^th Annual Fall Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM – 3 PM) at the Scriba Fire Hall, U. S. Route 104 E., Scriba, New York. INFO: Barry L. Haynes, P. O. Box 900, Mexico, NY  13114, PH: (315) 963-0922 or 963-3749.

OCTOBER 19  -  FINDLAY, OHIO 
Findlay Antique Bottle Club’s 27^th Annual Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM – 3 PM) at The Old Barn, Route 224 (1 mile west from I 75 exit 159), Findlay, Ohio. INFO: Fred Curtis, 1635 Washington Ave., Findlay, OH  45840, PH: (419) 424-0486.

The Arkansas & Oklahoma Chapters of the Coca-Cola Collectors Club are hosting a Swap Meet at the Settle Inn (800-677-6906) in Branson, Missouri October 23rd through 25th. For information, E-mail Ken Cottrell at: beartul@earthlink.net, or call (918) 357-3067. Mention the Coca-Cola event when making reservations to get the special room rate of $65.

The Great Lakes Chapter of the Coca-Cola Collectors Club is holding its annual Fall Fest at the Battle Creek Inn, Battle Creek, Michigan from October 31 through November 2, 2003. Events will include welcome party, auction, banquet, swap meet and room hopping. For more information, please contact Sandy Wilson, 8101 Creston Drive, Freeland, MI 48623-8722, or call +1-989-692-0551, or e-mail cokesantalady@yahoo.com. Battle Creek Inn is located at I-94 & Capital Avenue and its toll free number is +1-800-232-3405.

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

The Morristown show is this weekend, and I was there Friday for set-up and early admission - along with my digital camera. So pics will be forthcoming. I will be there again on Saturday for the show.

Do remember the EXPO in Memphis next August. This only happens ever four years and is a great opportunity to have a nice get-together. Mail me if you are interested in participating in some way.

Until next time, Happy Collecting!

by Dennis Smith

The idea brings up mental images of corned beef sandwiches and Kosher delis for those who are vaguely familiar with celery-flavored sodas. The majority of people see celery soda either as a joke, or simply a bad idea. Few people realize that their ancestors consumed a lot of celery soda in the last century. There have been well over a hundred brands of celery soda manufactured and sold across the U.S. and other countries since the 1880s. 

Celery soda was recognized as a major flavor category by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Competition in many cities was fierce between bottlers selling their own variations, such as: Celery Tonic, Celery Phosphate, Celery Cream, Celery & Iron, Celery Cola, and even Celery Beer. At least one brand, Arny's Celery Soda of New Orleans, was such a favorite with one consumer that she named her newborn son after it in 1912.

The only celery-flavored soda still on the market, Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray, claims sales in all fifty states, and many foreign countries. The Dr. Brown's label states "Since 1868" - but the existence of early stoneware and pontiled glass bottles with the Dr. Brown's name may indicate a still earlier origin.

Dr. Brown himself has variously been described as a fiction, a beverage chemist and a doctor treating immigrant children on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The Dr. Brown's Celery Tonic label was registered in 1904, and fiercely defended in the courts. Dr. Brown's Celery Tonic changed to Cel-Ray around 1930. It was a New York City regional drink for its early years and remains the most popular in that area. 

The first celery soft drink sold on a national basis was Mayfield's Celery=Cola. James C. Mayfield was a partner of Coca-Cola inventor John Pemberton in Atlanta in 1888. On Pemberton's death, Mayfield became president and chief chemist of the Pemberton Medicine Company. 

Mayfield was involved in the Wine Cola Company of Atlanta and Boston for several years before opening his Celery=Cola factory in 1899 in Birmingham. Due to national advertising and his many contacts in the soft drink business, Celery=Cola was soon bottled and sold across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Cuba and as far away as Australia. Mayfield operated as the Celery=Cola Company, Koke Company of America and the Mayfield Beverage Company for thirty years.

Dozens of local and regional bottlers sold celery soda. A few brands were developed locally, such as Kolatona in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, and Smith's Celery and Phosphate in California. Others were produced with flavors and extracts purchased from supply houses, such as Liquid Carbonic in Chicago and Blue Seal Supply in Boston, among others.

I am always seeking bottles, advertising and historical information on celery sodas. Please contact: Dennis Smith, 11 Cleveland Drive, Buffalo, NY 14223; or E-mail: celerycola@yahoo.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