Food City Race Nights (Part One)

Wednesday, August 21 was the first day of Food City's annual customer appreciation event.  My mom works for Reese Food Group and arranged for me to be apart of Food City Race Night. I was going to be signing autographs alongside race car drivers.  How cool is that?

My mom and Brooke (BFF) left the house around 11:30 to head to Knoxville. We didn't make it far before our first stop. In Cleveland, mom needed to run in a grocery store to check on something for work and she wanted to stop by Kohl's to look at luggage for Annabelle and Lila. No worries, I found cute shoes for Annabelle and me while we were there. After a stop by Chick-fil-a we were north bound on I-75. 

We arrived at the Knoxville Expo and parked in the back with the trucks and trailers that hauled the cars in. I, of course, wanted to have my picture made with a few of them. 

We made our way inside to the hospitality room for a little snack. Jeremy was off work and hooked up with us at that point. With our bellies full we were ready to explore. All four of us oohed and awwed over all the cars and mingled with everyone at the booths. 

I meet a super sweet lady at the Dixie Stampede booth. This is a Dolly Parton owed attraction.  I really want to connect with Dolly Parton to see if she could add a couple of books to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.  This is a program that is free to sign up for.  After signing up, your child receives one free book a month for the first 5 years of their life.  It is a truly wonderful program.  I would love to see a couple of the books that I read when I visit elementary schools added to the list.  What a great way for children to learn about disabilities.  I was given a name and number of someone that could be a good contact for Dolly!!

As the time neared for the autograph sessions, we made our way to the tables.  To my surprise, Food City had a sign with MY name on it!!  They were treating me just like the drivers!!

I was seated next to the nicest guy, Chris Lafferty.  He was so easy to chat with and very down to earth, oh and he's easy on the eyes too!!  As the fans came through the line I began to realize that he was a pretty busy and popular guy!  Chris races the #89 Ford F-150 in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.  He also has a television show that airs from his garage in Concord, NC called Chris Lafferty's Motorsports TV.  Oh and in his spare time, he has a band called '89 Reasons'.  WOW!! WOW!! and WOW!!  I would have never known all these facts if the fans hadn't been mentioning them as they came down the line.  I must say I am now a life long Chris Lafferty fan.

We met drivers young and old.  One of the gentleman was a driver in the last beach race.  I didn't even realize there was such a thing.  This is such a wonderful event that Food City puts on for its customers.  I would love to come back year after year.  :-)

At the opposite end of the autograph line was Knoxville's own Trevor Bayne.  Trevor is best known for being the youngest driver to win the Dayton 500 in 2011 at the mere age of 20.  An awesome lady that works with Food City arranged for me to meet Trevor after the autograph session was over.  Ladies, I must admit he's awfully young but he's cute!!  

All and all it was a fabulous day!