Rootin’ tootin’ Southwest Airlines chief executive Gary Kelly showed up for the Dallas-based air carrier’s annual Halloween extravaganzaan officewide feast of decoration, costume and skit competition — dressed as Woody, the animated cowboy in the “Toy Story” movies.
The air carrier’s best-kept secret was revealed Friday along with Kelly’s entourage, which included space ranger Buzz Lightyear and yodeling cowgirl Jessie.
“This year, my main criteria was to be a man,” Kelly said. “I’ve been a woman two of the last three years, and people were starting to talk.”
Each department is decked out in a theme and performs skits at various show times throughout the day.
“Employees in the skits will spend their lunch hour for months leading up to Halloween writing and practicing their skits to be ready for prime time,” Southwest spokesman Chris Mainz said. “We publish the show times for all the skits so you can plan your day accordingly and try to see them all.”
Celebrity judges are tapped to judge the skits and pick a favorite.
“The day ends in a deck party — we have a deck overlooking the runway at Love Field — with music, food and drinks, and the winners are announced,” Mainz said.”
The Woody idea came from code words used for each carrier in acquisition documents with AirTran to ensure confidentiality, Mainz said.
“Southwest was ‘Cowboy’ and AirTran was ‘Falcon’ — a play on the Dallas/Atlanta football teams. The Woody idea came up as a play off of the Cowboy theme.”
Car competition.
Looks like car czar “Dealin’ ” Doug More land will go mano a mano with behemoth auto dealer AutoNation selling Fiat cars in the Denver metro area.
During the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company’s third-quarter earnings announcement Thursday, AutoNation said “it was awarded seven Fiat franchises, and will be the biggest Fiat dealer in the U.S. with locations in California, Colorado, Arizona, Washington State, Virginia and Georgia.”
AutoNation spokesman Marc Cannon confirmed that AutoNation will be opening one dealership in the metro area.
Moreland is the first dealer to be allowed by parent company Chrysler to sell the Fiat brand. He will open the store on Havana in Aurora during the first quarter of 2011. He also earned the rights to two Fiat dealerships in Arizona.
Moreland, who will have 13 auto dealerships in Colorado when he opens the Fiat store, said he welcomes the competition.
“(Chrysler) wouldn’t give them both to anybody because they don’t want one dealer dominating the market,” he said. “I have no problem with AutoNation having it; I welcome them.”
Diners, Drive-ins and Sam’s.
Sam’s No. 3 at 15th and Curtis streets will close today for one day only to accommodate the crew of the Food Network show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, who will be filming the restaurant’s Kitchen Sink Burrito for a future broadcast.
Spikey-haired host Guy Fieri will not be there during the filming but will provide voice-over for the piece in post production.
The Kitchen Sink Burrito contains onion, bell pepper, tomato, mushroom, ham, bacon, sausage, gyro meat, eggs and potato wrapped in a flour tortilla and smothered in pork green chili and cheddar cheese.
The restaurant, owned by the third-generation Armatas family, will host Sam’s fans who wrote to the network about the gut-bustin’ burrito.
Design time.
Denver design firm Roth + Sheppard Architects has won the AIA-Colorado’s Firm of the Year award along with seven other design awards.
Roth + Sheppard has also been chosen as the 2010 Top Architectural Firm of the Year by Mountain States Construction magazine.
EAVESDROPPING
One man to another:
“My wife listens to me like the Broncos play defense.”
Penny Parker’s column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Listen to her on “Caplis & Silverman” between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-630 AM. Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail pparker@denverpost.com.
