- May 19, 2024
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Sunday felt like a good day to eat a burger. Or two. Or three. It’s Ormond Burger Week after all.
So I gathered a small group of friends and we headed to the downtown to see how many restaurants we could try in one night — a tried and true Burger Week strategy (i.e., how I ate all of them last year). Our first spot of the night was Ormond Garage and as I brandished my yellow passport, eagerly awaiting my stamp, the server informed me that they were all out of their Ormond Burger Week special.
That, in fact, the restaurant had sold 65 burgers that day.
Ormond Burger Week committee member Carly Krajewski told me on Tuesday that Ormond Garage sold a total of 65 burgers last year — during the entire competition.
This year, they sold that many in one day. The restaurants, Krajewski said, are really cranking burgers out.
“There’s a lot of competition and it’s heavy,” Krajewski said. “… Some of the new restaurants that did not participate last year are pretty stunned at how many people are visiting their restaurants.”
Last year, the Ormond Burger Week committee distributed about 500 printed passports to the participating restaurants. This year, they have printed and distributed about 1,100 to the 17 competitors. Three restaurants have experienced running out of burgers before dinner time.
As of Tuesday night, I had personally tried seven burgers. At every restaurant I went, whether I got the burger to-go or ate in the restaurant, there were at least two or three others around me ordering the same thing — the restaurant’s Ormond Burger Week creation. I’ve had conversations with servers, hosts and patrons about what burgers they’d tried so far, and which ones they were still looking forward to trying.
Krajewski said she thinks people have been excited this year because everyone loves a good competition.
“Everybody likes to have a vote,” she said. “So you get to decide who the city’s best burger is and you can’t do that without the competition and being involved in it.”
Ormond Burger Week, she added, also had a special visitor on Sunday: Hamburger Harry, a Daytona Beach man who holds the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of hamburger-related items.
Earlier that day, Krajewski noticed he had shared their post and she loved his name. She responded that with a name like his, he should be their number one supporter.
Hamburger Harry said he was.
And later, the committee happened to meet him at Ormond Garage, where he had parked his hamburger-shaped motorcycle.
“He was thrilled about us, and he had little idea that we were as thrilled about him because we just thought he was the coolest thing in the world with the hamburger motorcycle,” Krajewski said.
How many burgers have you tried? Do you have a favorite you’re rooting for? Let us know! Email [email protected].
