Business & Tech
No Need to Ham It Up: The Big Cheese is Coming Back to Concord
A 400-pound wheel of cheese will ride triumphantly into town at 3:30 p.m. this Thursday, Dec. 6, for The Cheese Shop's award-winning Crucolo Day promotion.
If playing with your food is wrong, then Peter Lovis probably doesn’t want to be right.
Lovis, the longtime proprietor of The Concord Cheese Shop, will once again play host to a Crucolo Day parade this Thursday, Dec. 6, to celebrate the arrival of a 400-pound wheel of Italian cheese to his shop on Walden Street.
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Last year’s event – which you can see video of here on Patch – featured Lovis proudly reading a proclamation from the Board of Selectmen and rolling the wheel down a red carpet. He then cut the cheese (his words, not ours) and passed out samples to the delighted crowd as Crucolo Dancers frolicked merrily in the street.
While the delightfully cheesy event, which started in 2010, probably didn’t strike those who know Lovis as much of a stretch for the Cheese Shop’s affable owner, it did gain some statewide recognition of its creativity.
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At its annual luncheon earlier this year, the Retailers Association of Massachusetts gave its award for “Most Creative Concept” to Lovis, with recognition for his Crucolo Day parade.
From the press release announcing that award:
Since 2010, this all-ages event – which encourages the population of Concord, MA to get up close and personal with a gigantic cheese from a tiny Italian village – has grown in terms of anticipation, turnout, and media coverage.
The RAM award committee began its deliberations back in July. Lovis was given the nod for “creative concepts” after a site visit and interview. The committee said that the shop’s annual treatment of the giant cheese “made the mundane memorable … they are experts in their field and masters of likeability and fun. They are the essence of successful retailing today.”
How to top a town-wide parade for a wheel of cheese? Lovis has no plans to reign in his enthusiasm; in fact, the 2013 event will be in the planning just days after the last chunk of crucolo is sold.
This year’s Crucolo Day Parade will be held at 3:30 p.m. this Thursday, Dec. 6, at The Cheese Shop, 29 Walden St.
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