some food, and a complimentary promotional pickle pin. Heinz would distribute one million pickle pins by the fair's end. Though undoubtedly a success, the actual impact of the pickle promotion on Heinz's business may have been slightly exaggerated. Literature at the time suggested that the pin saved Heinz from certain financial doom. A contemporary ad read spoke of Mr. Heinz: "A man who found himself in a pickle... was saved by one." Whether this is literally true is speculative, but the Heinz company has stuck with this line, even including the preceding quote in a 1999 press release. The success of the pickle pin promotion has achieved almost legendary status, including a story that several of the first-floor fair exhibitors sued Heinz for unfair competition, while the second floor vendors, swamped with guests because of the traffic Heinz drew, threw a gala dinner in his honor. The first century After the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, Heinz continued distributing its pickle pins at events and by other means. Atlantic City's Iron Pier, opened in 1896, would in 1898 be purchased by Heinz and renamed Heinz Pier. The pier was a popular tourist attraction, featuring a museum, food samples, and free pickle pins. Heinz gave out pickle pins on the pier for nearly half a century and still do to this day at the nearby Atlantic City Historical Museum. Another venue where the Heinz pickle pins famously appeared was the 1939 New York World's Fair, where Heinz had an enormous exhibit building called the Heinz Dome. In 1982, at the World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee, Heinz once again gave out free pickle pins, but this time with a twist: the pins were distributed by a huge motorized ketchup bottle which moved freely around the fairgrounds. Visitors to Pittsburgh could acquire a pickle pin by taking the Heinz factory tour. Today, Heinz distributes the pins mostly one-by-one, by mail, for free to people who write in to their corporate address to request one. According to Heinz, they distribute just under a million pickle pins a year. Year 2000 ketchup variant For the year 2000, the Heinz company decided to try something new. For the first time, an entirely different pin was produced. Rather than a pickle, the new pin was shaped like a red Heinz ketchup bottle, complete with painted white cap and keystone-shaped label. The first batch of ketchup pins made also