Cheerwine and crab cakes: Marylanders can now enjoy SalisburyÕs favorite drink

Staff report

Cheerwine is now available Salisbury to Salisbury.

The hometown soft drink has landed northward in another Salisbury — Salisbury, Md.

The Delmarva distributor for Cheerwine in this region is Pepsi Bottling Ventures.

"The area has a lot in common with Cheerwine; the people are easy-going and love their leisure time," Jim Leland, Cheerwine's vice president of sales, said in a press release.

"Thanks to Pepsi Bottling Ventures, residents in Delmarva who've heard about Cheerwine but never tasted it will be able to enjoy it for the first time, and fans will have easy access."

Created in 1917 by L.D. Peeler, the Cheerwine brand is privately held by the same family today and is one of the oldest family-owned soft drink companies in the country.

In 1915, Lewis Morgan co-created, and soon owned, The Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company (then named The Peninsula Bottling Company) in Salisbury, Md.

How he got there had something to do with Salisbury, N.C.

In the late 1800s, Morgan was one of many immigrants who came to the United States searching for a better life. After several years in Norfolk, Lewis decided to pursue opening his own business in Salisbury, N.C. After boarding the wrong train, he ended up in the city with the same name in Maryland and decided to stay.

"Cheerwine launched that same decade, so it's interesting to think how history would've played out with us working together from the same home base," says Tom Barbitta, vice president of marketing for Cheerwine.

"It seems the partnership was meant to be because, almost a century later, everything's fallen into place."

Earlier this year, Cheerwine unveiled a marketing campaign that incorporated a heavy dose of digital elements — a new Web site, viral videos and targeted online banner advertisements.

"Cheerwine's success and the uniqueness of the brand gives us great confidence that it will do well in Delmarva," Paul Finney, senior vice president of sales for Pepsi Bottling Ventures, said in a press release.

"We're excited to to be able to introduce this superb soft drink to our local consumers."