A Hollywood cranberry bog tale

PR is an interesting gig, definitely never the same thing day in and day out. One minute I'm rubbing elbows with the stars, next, I'm dealing with a client crisis, to pitching reporters and writing press releases. On the agenda this week ... to once again don an official cranberry grower uniform for Ocean Spray in honor of the harvest while dropping of gift bags to radio DJs and TV news assignment editors.

Yup, it’s that time of year again … for 2,000 pounds of cranberries to fill the Hollywood & Highland Center, October 15-17, as part of "The Bogs Across America" tour, which transforms public spaces across the country into cranberry bogs. The 1,800 square foot “Red Carpet Bog” is created to educate visitors about the annual cranberry harvest and is free and open to the public between 10 a.m.− 4 p.m. until this Friday.

Like last year, an intern and I waddled in our official waders into some famous newsrooms and DJ booths, receiving odd looks and smirks along the way. One woman actually thought we were exterminators, but I have to say it's kind of liberating parading around in a costume like you just don't care. The only problem is that the wader shoes are a size 8 men's and I'm a size five in women's, so my socks kept riding down and I'd trip over my rubber feet.

After the drops were made (sounds like a mob expression) we then waddled over to Hollywood & Highland to check out the actual bog set up in the central courtyard. Jimmy Kimmel's crew was there filming a scene with two old dudes without their shirts on. I'll have to tune-in to his show now to see what it was all about. Anyway, in the background we waded into the actual bog of floating cranberries. Every time I'd lift my foot it would float upwards along with the berries. It was definitely cool being in there, although tourists kept taking our pictures, lol. Here's my brief stint pretending to be a cranberry grower:

From Oct. 25 - 26, Ocean Spray’s 2,100 square foot “Patriot Place Bog,” will come to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro Mass., home of the New England Patriots (boo!). They will also be bringing mini bogs to Portland, Cincinnati, Louisville, Phoenix and Denver during October and November. More info here.