Mr. Peanut, his NUTmobile will mark Planters' move to Minnesota on Thursday
Mr. Peanut is moving to Minnesota, and is celebrating the occasion with an event in St. Paul on Thursday.
The distinctive legume mascot will now call Minnesota home after Hormel Foods purchased Planters, the snackfoods company, for $3.35 billion, marking the largest acquisition in the Austin, Minnesota-based company's history.
To welcome the longtime face of Planters to Minnesota, Mr. Peanut and his iconic 26-foot-long NUTmobile will be at Como Regional Park in St. Paul at 11 a.m. Thursday. People can sample Planters snacks, take pictures with the legume itself and win swag, a news release says.
Mr. Peanut will also present a $10,000 donation to Vikings' Adam Thielen and his charity, The Thielen Foundation, "to continue recognizing organizations and individuals who add substance to their communities."
It's one of the 10 checks worth $10,000 Mr. Peanut is giving away to reward "Little Acts of Substance" in Minnesota this summer. The company has identified five local charities and give Minnesotans "who add substance to their communities," the release says.
Earlier this year, Planters said it would use its $5 million Super Bowl commercial budget to instead reward people who pay it forward through acts of substance.
This also comes as Mr. Peanut recently got a makeover. The legume has been the face of Planters' for 105 years but he "died" in a pre-game Super Bowl commercial in 2020. Over the next year, Planters unveiled different versions of Mr. Peanut as he transformed to the new iteration of monocle-wearing peanut, Marketing Dive reported in May.
This summer, the NUTmobile will be making stops at various Minnesota events. You can submit a request to have it visit your event online here.
The giant peanut-shaped vehicle was most recently parked outside the SPAM Museum in Austin, Minnesota, over the weekend.