I don’t know if it was the ESPN coverage, the rise of Joey Chestnut’s hot dog prowess, or the fact that I was raised in Baltimore on John Waters’ movies and love of the human spectacle, but going to seen the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on the 4th of July live-and-in-person seemed like the perfect destination trip. So this year, my daughter and I decided to go while the boys were off camping.

If you don’t mind crowds, heat, and bodily fluids, it is totally worth it.

And yes, before you say to yourself “but Joey Chestnut did not compete this year” – yes, I know. We ALL know. But there’s no time like the present, and no guarantee he will compete next year either. (Side note: I see that he and Kobayashi have a new Netflix eat-off scheduled for Labor Day. New career, Joey?)

While planning our trip, I did some poking around on the inter-webs and other than the names of this year’s eaters and the TV schedule, there wasn’t much other than a few Reddit boards talking about the actual experience. How early did they let people in? Could you bring in a bag? Was there a bathroom? What do you do for the hours before the contest and between the women and men’s competition?

Well, my friends, here is my recap of the day. And let me tell you, it is SO MUCH MORE than hot dogs.

Let me back up. We were visiting Baltimore to see family, so we decided that a bus trip to NYC for the day to see the contest was doable. Tough, but doable. So we got up at stupid-o’clock and hopped on a charter bus. Landed in Manhattan around 7 a.m., and took the 1 hour subway ride out to Coney Island. By the time we got off at Stillwell Avenue, it was 8:30 a.m.

And from here, we could SEE Nathan’s, but we couldn’t quite get there. This is when I first discovered New York City’s love of street barricades. It took us a good 10 minutes to go down a few blocks and around the street closures where we saw the entrance to the viewing area and bag check. We walked up to ask a question, and were reminded in the most kind New York way that this was the front of the line — the line ended down a block and around the corner. (If you watch the TV coverage, when we got in line, we were near the It’s Sugar store right behind the grandstand.)

Matilda and I had been standing there for about 10 minutes enjoying the sights of the locals when a slightly deranged chant of “Sausage Party, Sausage Party” started coming from the subway station….accompanied by about 50 — shall we say enthusiasts — dressed in hot dog costumes and bringing the party. I felt immediately under-dressed in my “I’m only here for the hot dogs” t-shirt.

We were treated to hearing the sound checks for some of the upcoming acts while in line, and this is where the excitement started to build. We chatted with the locals in front of us donning #FreeJoey t-shirts. At one point, there was, strangely, a performance of Puccini’s aria Mio Bambino Caro the hot dog guys treated us to a hot dog ballet. (see the video at the end of this post.)

Around 9:15 a.m. the line started to move and we got to go in to “the pit.” This is the place inside the barriers and in front of the eating table and stage. We had only brought some drawstring backpacks in case they weren’t allowing in bags and we had to ditch everything. They did let us in with the bags, only warning people that they were not allowed alcohol or chairs. No problem, we didn’t have any.

You enter the Pit from the side, so you have to make your way as far forward as possible to see the competition table. We made it to the about the middle of the table, and about 30 feet back. It wasn’t too bad. We chatted a little with the folks surrounding us. There were a lot of friends and family of the contestants in the crowd. And lots more costumes. (that’s us in the yellow circle from the TV shot).

At 10 a.m. music started. The Hot Hand Band out of Brooklyn played about a 30 minute set. New Orleans brass band playing hip hop, with a tap-dance-percussion-soloist. Yes, please and thank you! Awesome, 5 star, highly recommend.

Next came an older gentleman singing songs about Coney Island – Amos Wengler. Everyone seemed to know the Hot Dog song, and there was some fun sing-a-long action happening. There were a slew of performers after that. Local dancers, patriotic songs, and the “Buns of Steel” men came out to introduce the ladies.

The ladies competition started at 11 a.m., and Miki Sudo crushed it. New personal best, new World Record – 51 hot dogs in 10 minutes.

Now it’s about 11:30, and the men’s competition doesn’t start until 12:30. There were lots more singers, a Romanian guitarist playing a punk cover of Hit Me Baby One More Time (again…yes, please, and thank you!), a color guard to present the flag (shout our to their commander, a public school teacher by day), and opera singer minus the Hot Dog Ballet this time, and Badlands Booker came out to — get this — rap battle George Shea. Yes, the commish of Major League Eating can spit. (again, see the video for highlights). At one point, he started rapping names of pasta.

Now it was time for the Lemonade chugging competition. 1 gallon of Nathan’s Lemonade. Badlands Booker crushed the competition chugging it in only 21 seconds. After that, it’s a good thing that ESPN cut away from the coverage. Because the dude on the left with the mowhawk….um….returned his beverage. I mean he projectile vomited across the table and into the crowds like it was an Olympic event. Repeatedly. Remember that story from the movie Stand by Me where the kid who was bullied barfs all over during the pie eating contest? Yeah, it was that.

After a serious cleanup occurred, there were more performers. At one point, there was a gospel choir and George Shea was lifted to the heavens on a dolly to proclaim that the time for the Men’s contest was upon us. We waited for the TV coverage to start and the men came out. Honestly, we had no idea who was going to win in the vacuum that Joey Chestnut left. My money was on Nick Wehry since he is married to Miki Sudo, I was rooting for the power couple to take all the wins today. And he was rocking the red, white, and blue Mowhawk. ‘Merica! Matilda went with the Brazilian guy, Ricardo Corbucci because the people behind us were super loud proudly Brazilian and waving the Brazil flag. Neither of us were right, because Patrick Bertoletti took it home with 58 dogs in 10 minutes.

At this point, we had been standing in the crowd and heat, sans bathroom, for almost 5 hours. I was greasy, hot, and a little crispy — basically, I was a hot dog now. As soon as the champ was crowned, we made a bee-line for a potty and some lunch. We rode some Coney Island rides and headed back to the subway to catch our bus home for the day……or so we thought. We didn’t get home until 5 a.m. the next day — but that is a story for another post.

If you are still reading, thanks. If you are thinking about going to Coney Island to see this event live, it is SO MUCH MORE than the ESPN coverage. Quite frankly, ESPN would do well to just shut up and let the Commish handle all the chatter, it was way more entertaining than their coverage.

Here are my suggestions:

1. Get there by 8 a.m.
2. Yes, you can bring in bags, at least still in 2024. I brought a small powered fan that proved to be invaluable when the breeze left us. Bring sunscreen and a hat. Bring water, but remember you will need to go several hours without a bathroom, so use accordingly.
3. Hydrate the day before. Like you are preparing for a marathon.
4. Wear comfortable shoes, you will be standing for about 6 hours.
5. Have plenty of room and power on your phone to take ALL the photos.
6. If you are not local, I highly suggest getting a hotel and NOT trying the up and back in a day method. It would have been fine if our return trip hadn’t canceled on us, but it did, and probably will on you, too. A shower would have been life changing before wandering around Manhattan for 6 hours.

Here are some video highlights of the entertainers — if you want to see the actual eating competition, there are plenty of videos out there.