After a two-year hiatus, the 39th annual Hot Dog Caper will return on October 20. This year’s event will draw inspiration from the ’90s to create a radical afternoon of events to welcome Broncos to campus.
The beloved tradition has been hosted by the Cal Poly Pomona Foundation since 1983, when former university president Hugh O. La Bounty had the idea to provide the campus community with a free lunch to kick off the school year.
It is believed that hot dogs were originally chosen since they are easy to serve to a large crowd.
The annual Hot Dog Caper has grown from a simple free lunch to one of the university’s most well-attended, large-scale extravaganzas, complete with live entertainment, giveaways and so much more.
Each year, hundreds of volunteers from throughout campus, including administrators, staff and athletes, pass out free food and drinks to all attendees. In 2019, Hot Dog Caper volunteers served over 15,000 hot dogs and veggie dogs, 9,600 bags of chips, 20,000 beverages and 9,500 popsicles.
Giving away these mounds of tasty treats is no easy feat. The Hot Dog Caper is made possible by more than 200 volunteers, the Foundation’s sponsors and partnerships with Cal Poly Pomona, Pepsi Beverages Company, Associated Students Inc., Facilities Planning & Management, Hoffy Hotdogs, First Class Vending, Foothill Transit and Bronco Athletics.
The Hot Dog Caper is just one of the many ways the Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, which opened its doors in 1966, and campus partners give back to the university. Over the past 50 years, the Foundation has given millions of dollars to the university to fund numerous campus programs, scholarships and infrastructure.
For more details and to view photos and video of last year’s Hot Dog Caper, visit www.HotDogCaper.com.
