At 9 a.m. on Monday morning, guests and locals gathered with Outer Beaches Realty at Conner’s Supermarket in Buxton for the 6th Annual Gobble Gobble Giveaway. The annual event aims to prove that Thanksgiving grocery shopping can be a lot of fun, via a lucky winner’s fast-paced shopping spree that zips through the aisles of Conner’s Supermarket.
The best part about the event is that attendees are shopping for a cause: Outer Beaches Realty and Conner’s match the dollar amount of the sweepstakes winner’s cart, and donate the proceeds to two food pantries on Hatteras Island.
The 10 finalists showed up with their crews ready to cheer them on if they were chosen as the lucky winner. OBR also had a life-size turkey on hand to help gather foods within the time limit, and for funny pictures, of course. Spectators also placed guesses on what the winner’s cart would total, which ranged from $150 to $450.
Carl Sears was this year’s winner, giving him the opportunity to shop like mad for a full two minutes, 30 seconds in Conner’s Supermarket.
Ready. Set. Go! The countdown began as Carl raced through Conner’s down every aisle, adding items in his cart for a proper Thanksgiving feast, which included two turkeys, a cheese wheel, drinks, and much more. At the end of the spree, Carl managed to put $345.31 worth of groceries into his cart. (Spectator Bill Martin was very close to the grand total with a guess of $342, making him the lucky recipient of a $100 gift certificate.)
After all of the items in Carl’s cart were bagged and ready to go, he informed everyone that he was donating all of his winnings to the Hatteras Island Food Pantry.
Outer Beaches Realty and Conner’s Supermarket teamed up and matched the grand totals, donating $690.62 to Lifeline Outreach OBX and an additional $690.62 to the Hatteras Island Food Pantry.
“We are so lucky to live in a special place where people pride themselves on helping others,” said Outer Beaches in an online recap of the event. “We hope everyone enjoys the rest of Thanksgiving week with family and friends. Until next year… Gobble, gobble!”
