ROANOKE, Va. – It's Dr Pepper Day. People in the Star City are celebrating one of the area's most popular drinks.
Oct. 24 is "10-2-4," the three numbers on the iconic Dr. Pepper sign in downtown Roanoke.
It's also part of the company's marketing campaign from 1927, suggesting you should drink the beverage for good health. Free T-shirts and drinks were given out to people in Market Square on Wednesday.
Organizers said people were so excited to celebrate.
"Just the history that it had in this town for many years. Roanoke was No. 1 in consumption per capita of the product. So people are very, very loyal to the brand," said Waynette Anderson, president/owner of Dr. Pepper Park at the Bridges.
The original Dr. Charles T. Pepper opened Dr Pepper's drugstore in Rural Retreat in the late 1800s. In 1936, Virginia's first Dr Pepper bottling plant opened on McClanahan Street in Roanoke.