Wawa’s Hoagie Day brings free lunch and festivities to Independence Mall, local organizations

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Wawa Hoagie Day returned to the Independence Mall on Thursday, offering a free lunch for the thousands willing to queue around Arch Street between 5th and 6th Streets. 

The day, part of 16 days of Wawa Welcome America schedule, also provided a portion of the hoagies made to local organizations serving the community.

“It’s all about Philadelphia, hoagies, Fourth of July, giving and serving those who serve us,” said Wawa President and CEO Chris Gheysens.

Of the 25,000 hoagies made early at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center, 15,000 were given out for free on the Independence Mall, starting at noon. The remaining 10,000 went out earlier to Veterans Multi-Service Centers, Philabundance and the children at the Police Athletic League centers.

“It’s just a good way for Wawa to give back to their community and say, ‘Hey, listen we care, we’re supporting our Police Athletic League, we’re supporting our kids and we’re supporting our community,’ ” said Lt. Denise Duccilli with the Police Athletic League.

The first lines of the day were trucks from all of the organizations queued up on S. 6th Street to pack and distribute hoagies around the city.

“It is a little logistical nightmare being in front of the Constitution Center,” said Lt. Duccilli. “But thank God, you know the Constitution Center and the security is working very well with us to ensure that our officers are in and out.”

When noon came and it was time to start handing out the hoagie bags, Charles McGee was at the front of one of the lines. He said that he was in line for two or three hours and wasn’t actually the first to arrive.

“There was only a couple of people in line, then I started talking to them and they wanted me to get in front of them because I know most of them from driving the bus at SEPTA for 30 years,” said McGee, who has also driven for Philabundance for 10 years. “Because I treat them good when they’re on the bus, they wanted me to be first in line.”

Milder weather than the scorching highs of the past week made the long lines for the red bag — containing a Shorti hoagie, a bag of Herr’s chips, a Tastykake chocolate chip cookie bar, water and a Wawa hat — more bearable. Gheysens said that organizers did their best to move things along quickly, but the popularity of the event made some waiting inevitable.

“We always try to make this as efficient as possible, the reality is it’s just so many people,” he said. “But most people tell us at the end of the day [it was] well worth it, the small wait, to just enjoy on the lawn, on a beautiful day, a free hoagie.” 

The afternoon’s festivities on the stage in front of the Constitution Center included Wawa’s Hoagies for Heroes annual hoagie-building contest. Members from the Philadelphia Police Department competed against members from the City’s Fire Department to make the most turkey hoagies in three minutes, with both teams earning a donation to charity. The Fire Department won out this year, for its third successive victory over PPD, with a food fight erupting between the two teams when the timer stopped.

“We found out yesterday that we would be here, through a text message,” Philadelphia Fire Department Executive Officer Derek Bowmer said. “That’s fire department life: You got to be able to whip it into gear real quick. So that’s what we do.”

The next round was between the Pennsylvania Army National Guard and the Air National Guard, with the Air Force coming out on top. Both teams’ $3,000 prize went towards the USO, which had QR codes posted around the event for the public to reach out to deployed service members.

Fire Department EMT Quinton Kent, one of the victors of the day, was humble enough to shout out all the service members being honored that afternoon, no matter how many hoagies they made. 

“It’s a team effort. We’re all partners here: Police, Fire, the Army, all those people. We all do this together,” he said.

WHYY News’ Cory Sharber contributed reporting to this story.