{"id":211911,"date":"2026-05-28T06:05:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T06:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wendys-look-alike-contest-draws-fans-with-red-wigs-pigtails-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T06:05:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T06:05:47","slug":"wendys-look-alike-contest-draws-fans-with-red-wigs-pigtails-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wendys-look-alike-contest-draws-fans-with-red-wigs-pigtails-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Wendy&#039;s look-alike contest draws fans with red wigs, pigtails &#8211; USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\/story\/money\/2026\/05\/13\/wendys-free-tote-bag-giveaway\/90058139007\/ data-t-l=:b|e|k|\u2691u class=gnt_ar_b_a>Wendy&#8217;s<\/a> mascot, Wendy, is one of the most iconic redheads, and the chain celebrated World Redhead Day in a big way and offered fans a chance to win free Dave&#8217;s Single\u00a0hamburgers\u00a0for a year.<br \/>On Tuesday, May 26, Wendy&#8217;s held a look-alike contest at Seaport Square in New York City. Whether they rocked a wig or their natural hair, everyone was welcome to join, but had to be 18 years or older to enter the competition.<br \/>Nearly 20 people participated in the contest.<br \/>Wendy&#8217;s mascot, named Wendy, is a redhead with her hair styled in two pigtails, each with a blue bow at the end. She has bangs and freckles and wears a blue-and-white striped top.<br \/>Wendy Thomas, Wendy&#8217;s founder, Dave Thomas&#8217; daughter, and the original Wendy who inspired the brand&#8217;s mascot, was one of the judges at the competition<br \/>The competition had three rounds, during which contestants had to showcase their Wendy-like qualities to be crowned No. 1.<br \/>The contest was made up of three rounds, according to the news release:<br \/>The winner, Jennifer, an Ohio native, was determined by crowd applause and the judges&#8217; scores.<br \/>The winner took home the grand prize: free Dave&#8217;s Single\u00a0hamburgers\u00a0for a year.<br \/>Wendy&#8217;s will continue to bring fun events to its fans with exclusive merch drops for loyalty members, according to a <a href=https:\/\/www.wendys.com\/blog\/wendys-rewards-drops data-t-l=:b|z|k|\u2691u class=gnt_ar_b_a>news release<\/a> on its website. In previous weeks, as part of the merch drops, Wendy&#8217;s has given away tote bags and charm bracelets.<br \/>On Wednesday, May 27 at 3 p.m. ET, the brand will give away free Wendy&#8217;s F.C. Soccer Jersey through the Wendy&#8217;s mobile app. The brand will also give away Canon Powershot G7X Mark III Digital Cameras on Wednesday, June 3 at 3 p.m. ET.<br \/>To participate, fans must be Wendy\u2019s Rewards members and have the app downloaded on their smart devices.<br \/>Once the merchandise window opens in the app, tap it and follow the on-screen instructions to claim the merchandise while supplies last. Rewards members will also receive notifications with a link to the entry page.<br \/><em>This story has been updated with new information.<\/em><br \/><em>Julia Gomez is a Trending reporter for USA TODAY and covers popular toys, space phenomena, scientific studies, natural disasters, holidays, and trending news. Connect with her on\u00a0<a href=https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/juliamgomez\/ target=_blank rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=:b|z|k|\u2691u class=gnt_ar_b_a>LinkedIn<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=https:\/\/twitter.com\/JuliaMarieGZ target=_blank rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=:b|z|k|\u2691u class=gnt_ar_b_a>X<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/juliamariegz\/ target=_blank rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=:b|z|k|\u2691u class=gnt_ar_b_a>Instagram<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@juliamariegz target=_blank rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=:b|z|k|\u2691u class=gnt_ar_b_a>TikTok<\/a>: @juliamariegz, or email her at jgomez@gannett.com<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMirwFBVV95cUxNcU1mOGFiV2U0Y1pVMV9fc3loRXFKdzZoMlU2MGdBYWEyWjdhZVJJZ01ETXRKd0dVZ2lOZFc2TVlkVm5uM1pqZ1I2cUxEbGpGNkRLTW1xUDdDc0htUE4zTTNzR0EyNUFubVlYOWRVdzBnR2pmNkk3ZnhIaklLN2pQSF94Z1BzSzBNTm5KNkRkd1o3bC1jM3pEdVFyT2NtSkd2YUFfeFlicHFWSzhTR2dn?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wendy&#8217;s mascot, Wendy, is one of the most iconic redheads, and the chain celebrated World Redhead Day in a big way and offered fans a chance to win free Dave&#8217;s Single\u00a0hamburgers\u00a0for a year.On Tuesday, May 26, Wendy&#8217;s held a look-alike contest at Seaport Square in New York City. Whether they rocked a wig or their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":211912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-211911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}