A 50-foot scrambled dog? How Columbus State, Country’s BBQ made it happen
The astonishingly-big scrambled dog unveiled at Columbus State University’s quad Thursday was nearly as long as the nearby trees are tall.
The 50-foot-long scrambled dog, which was used as part of a celebration for the 50th anniversary of the CSU Archives and Special Collections, paid homage to the iconic dish that has served generations in Columbus and is intertwined with the history of the city itself.
“I’ve actually been scheming on this event for a very long time and 99% of the people I pitched it to said, ‘Oh, that can’t be done,’” said David Owings, CSU’s director of archives and special collections.
The dog was assembled by Country’s BBQ staff in a specially made U-shaped PVC pipe structure lined with paper trays. The cut up hot dog buns were placed on top of each tray, followed by cut up hot dogs, then mustard, then chili, then coleslaw, then BBQ onions and lastly, the pickles.
A worker then slid each tray and its contents off the end of the pipe and onto a paper plate to serve to each person. The person would then be given some plastic utensils to chow down.
When asked whether this sets the world record for longest scrambled dog, Owings wasn’t certain, but said, “I think it’s gotta be. I can’t imagine who else would have built a bigger scrambled dog.”
CSU’s Robotics Engineering Department got in on the festivities by dressing up a robot with a hot dog costume.
The dish’s history in Columbus stretches back to 1908 to Firm Roberts, who opened a “cigar-news stand” on Broadway, the Ledger-Enquirer reported. The dish late made its way to Dinglewood Pharmacy’s menu in the 1930s, when Henry “Sport” Brown took a job at Dinglewood.
Lieutenant Charles Stevens started working at Dinglewood at age 13 and helped carry on the legacy of the scrambled dog, bringing it to prominence.
Country’s BBQ served up their version of the scrambled dog with bun, hot dog, mustard, BBQ onions, coleslaw, pickles, chili and topped with oyster crackers. As the scrambled dog took its final form, around 100 people stood by eagerly waiting for the call to dig in.
Once the call to eat came, all 50 feet of the dog were gone within a few minutes. Yet, there were still 100 hot dogs left to be eaten by people participating in the hot dog eating contest that followed.
The event concluded after Carl Robertson, from CSU’s Budget and Finance Department, won the hot dog eating contest and won a $100 gift card to Country’s BBQ.
This story was originally published May 2, 2025 at 6:00 AM.