VIDEO: Wawa Celebrates Grand Opening of Fords Store with the Chicken Dance

Woodbridge residents who remember with longing the days of when Wawa had a presence in the township will have to wait no longer. The first of two Wawa stores due to be opened in Woodbridge had its grand opening on Friday.

The first store, located at Route 9 and King George Road in Fords, held festivities that included a show of Wawa store associates holding signs celebrating markers in the store's history and a hoagie-building contest between Hopelawn firefighters and the Woodbridge Police.

The piece de resistance, though, was the performance of the chicken dance - renamed the goose dance - starring Wawa employees and Wally Goose, the convenience store's mascot. 

Wawa officials and Mayor John McCormac showed up to mark the opening.

"We go back to 1803," said Jim Shortall, Wawa's director of store operations for New Jersey. He cited the landmarks of the Wawa chain as store associates came out holding posters of the events. That included the introduction of the sale of coffee in 1970 and the opening of gas stations to accompany some of the stores.

The Fords store has a gas station in concert with the convenience store. The second store, due to open in Avenel on the site of the Gem Motel and the old Mom's Diner, is also slated to have a gas station as well.

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