Hello once again SURGE fans and welcome to the 141st edition of SaveSURGE News! Now featured in the national media!

AP Article Brings Attention to SURGE
The Associated Press article featuring SaveSURGE.org first began to show up on various news-oriented websites on Sunday, April 17, 2005. Since then, it has made its rounds to print, online, television and radio outlets from all over the USA!

A few highlights:

4/17/05 – The article is first seen online.

4/18/05 – I was interviewed by WHTM ABC 27 TV in Harrisburg, PA. The story airs on their 5:30pm newscast. The AP story is featured on the front page of my hometown newspaper and also in other papers across the country.

4/19/05 – Fortune.com mentions the site as the article continues to circulate through the media.

4/20/05 – The biggest exposure yet comes in the form of the article being posted on the Yahoo! home page as one of their “In the News” headlines. It becomes one of the most e-mailed stories of the day! The Yahoo! story is also linked on Fark.com. If that wasn’t enough, a story about SaveSURGE.org was broadcast several times throughout the day on WCBS Radio in New York.

The only bad part about all of this attention was that for a period on Wednesday night, traffic to the site was so heavy that our web hosting company had to pull our site down for several hours overnight. The loading time of the site was at a crawl.

This article has given us even more national exposure than originally expected! Our community is being discovered by people from all over the USA. We’ve heard from so many new friends this week and are currently in the process of adding a whole lot of new content to our For the Love of SURGE section.

We are encouraging all of you to give Coca-Cola a call toll-free at 1-800-GET-COKE and request that SURGE be brought back to store shelves. Coke executives are no doubt aware of the attention our community is receiving. It is our hope that they will realize that people everywhere want to see a SURGE comeback!

Read the AP article and find out more in SaveSURGE.org in the Press:
http://www.savesurge.org/surge/about_press.shtml

Debbie & Shirley Document Country Thunder
SURGE fans Debbie & Shirley spent April 14-17, 2005 at Country Thunder USA in Florence, AZ. It’s one of the largest music festivals in the country. Along with members of their family, these ladies went to the festival for more than just music. They also went to help campaign for their favorite soda!

They purchased a vendor booth at the festival to help spread the word about SaveSURGE.org and gather signatures for their own local petition. In all, they gained almost 1,000 signatures!

As Country Thunder took place, the ladies kept us up-to-date with lots of great photos and signature tallies. We created a special section of our website just for the event. It’s called Debbie & Shirley’s Country Thunder Blog and you can view it at:
http://www.savesurge.org/surge/blog_thunder.php

A great-big thank you goes out to Debbie, Shirley and their family for their outstanding efforts! I can’t even begin to describe how grateful we are for what they’ve done. If you’d also like to say “thank you”, please visit the blog and leave a comment!

UPDATE: This just in…We have received word that Debbie & Shirley may be appearing on the local NBC affiliate in Phoenix, AZ very soon! Stay tuned to SaveSURGE.org for details.

SURGE Spotted
As it turns out, our favorite soda isn’t quite extinct! We had two reports this week telling us otherwise:

Kris saw SURGE in IL and tells us: “About 6 months ago a burger king in Vandailia, IL had surge on the fountain. And today I found a single can of SURGE in the cooler at the gas station that I work at. I found it 2 days before my birthday, what an awesome birthday present! I shook it a little and listened for fizz, and it does have carbonation! I can't decide if I want to drink it or not.(decisions, decisions...)”

Robb also found SURGE in a fountain in a Boston area 7-11 and reports: “I tried it and it was Surge, but the fizz was just dead and there was no taste, but I bought 5 Large Cups anyway :)”
See a photo of Robb’s sighting at:
http://www.savesurge.org/surge/robb_fountain.shtml

Win a Copy of "Save Surge - The Movie"
Drew Bizzell's documentary "Save Surge - The Movie" is being re-released on DVD. To celebrate, Drew is giving a copy to three (3) lucky SURGE fans!

Just fill out the form on this page and you’re entered:
http://www.savesurge.org/surge/drew_movie_win.shtml

Winners will be randomly selected by Drew on or around May 1, 2005.

Ben & Sam’s SURGE Rap
SURGE fans Ben & Sam recorded a rap for their favorite soda! It's got an old-skool beat and it'll make you thirsty :)

Check it out in For the Love of SURGE:
http://www.savesurge.org/surge/bensam_song.shtml

Whole Lotta Love
The national attention we’ve received this week means that SURGE stories are coming in faster than we can post them! There are a lot of great ones this week and we are always adding more.

Check them out in For the Love of SURGE:
http://www.savesurge.org/surge/love.shtml

That’s all the time we have for this week. Thank you all for your continued support! This has been one of the biggest weeks in our history and we know that Coca-Cola is taking notice!

Sincerely,

Eric Karkovack
Co-Webmaster
www.SaveSURGE.org