Top Major League Eaters to Participate in Second Annual National Harbor World PEEPS® Eating Contest

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - March 8, 2017 - PRLog -- On Peeps Day, April 8, the No. 2 world-ranked competitive eater Matt Stonie (San Josie, California) and No. 11 world-ranked Juliet Lee (Gaithersburg) will return to National Harbor with almost a dozen other professional eater contestants to defend their world record titles set last year at the National Harbor World Peeps Eating Contest. Stonie won the event by eating 200 Peeps in five minutes. Juliet was the highest ranked woman competing, having devoured 140 Peeps.

The event is sanctioned by Major League Eating, the world body that oversees professional eating contests including Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. Major League Eating developed competitive eating and includes the sport's governing body. The National Harbor World Peeps Eating Contest will take place at 1:30 p.m. on the National Harbor Waterfront Plaza which is in front of the Peeps & Company store (157 National Plaza, National Harbor.)  In the event of rain, the competition will be held under a tent on the Capital Wheel pier (just adjacent to 157 National Plaza location.)

"Our signature Peeps & Company store provides the perfect backdrop for our World Peeps Eating Contest," stated Deborah Topcik, director of marketing for National Harbor. The contest attracts many of the top competitive eaters in the nation, which is unusual to have so many together; and it offers an amateur eating contest as well.

Peeps Day includes a variety of activities along with contests and prizes. A Peeps Diorama Contest will be held before the eating contest. Diorama Contest rules and regulations (https://media.nationalharbor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/...) are available on the National Harbor website. Prizes include a $500 and $300 National Harbor gift cards.

The Capital Wheel celebrates Peeps Day with a free child's ticket (12 and under) with one adult paid ticket. The Wheel soars 180 feet above the landscape and provides breathtaking views of the Potomac River, Washington D.C., Virginia, and Maryland.

There will be free activities which include a climbing wall and a children's maze. The Peep character will lead the children's "Dance Like a Peep" contest with prizes. The day will end with the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory playing at 2:30 p.m.

Schedule of activities for the day:

Noon to 12:30 p.m.:  Public judging of dioramas

12:30 p.m.: Amateur Peeps eating contest

1:15 p.m.: Dance Like a Peep competition

1:25 p.m.: Announcement of diorama winners

1:30 p.m.: World Championship Peeps Eating Contest

2:30 p.m.: Showing of the movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

The Peeps & Company store at National Harbor was the first in the country and there are only two others. Peeps (the popular marshmallow candies shaped like chicks and bunnies) have become an iconic symbol of spring. Peeps® are made by the family-owned company, "Just Born," headquartered in Bethlehem, Penn. and founded in 1923. Over time, the candy line has expanded to include bunnies and a wide array of colors and flavors.

For more information, visit www.NationalHarbor.com.

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About National Harbor

National Harbor is a community unlike any other.  Situated close to the nation's capital, National Harbor takes full advantage of one of the country's most historic rivers. Rising from the banks of the Potomac River, just south of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Prince George's County, Md., National Harbor is a 350-acre mixed use development with seven hotels (including the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center and MGM National Harbor), offices, residential, tree-lined streets with more than 160 shops including Tanger Outlet and more than 40 restaurants, iconic attractions such as the Capital Wheel and National Harbor Carousel, and much more. The community provides easy access to Washington, D.C. and Alexandria, Va. and features an array of waterfront activities, events, and spectacular sunsets. For more information, www.NationalHarbor.com.