Legendary Hudson Valley Hot Dog Stand to Close; Customers Lose It

One of the Hudson Valley's most popular roadside hot dog stands made an announcement this week that sent customers reeling.

The Hudson Valley has some legendary places to grab a hot dog. Whether it's Pete's in Newburgh, Dallas Hot Wieners in Kingston, Holy Dog in Middletown or Newburgh Lunch, everyone has their own personal favorite that they will argue is the best until their last dying breath.

It turns out that one of the most beloved hot dog restaurants isn't a restaurant at all. During this year's Battle of the Best, Carole's Hot Dogs in Hyde Park received a flood of support from its customers, earning it a nomination in the yearly survey of the Hudson Valley's favorite foods.

Carole's isn't a traditional restaurant, it's a seasonal hot dog cart that appears every spring on St. Andrew's Road in Hyde Park. Locals and tourists alike flock to the mobile stand for Carole's famous "snappy" dogs. The 100% all beef Sabretts fly out of the truck's window, with many opting to top the dogs with Carole's special chili sauce (with no beans) and onions.

Carole's Announcement Causes Confusion and Sadness

On Monday, Carole took to her Facebook page to announce that the stand would be closing. The message sent customers into a complete meltdown.

Unfortunately, Carole's Hot Dogs is CLOSING. This will be my last week, so make sure you get a few of my great tasting hot dogs.

Before even reading through the rest of the message, customers raced to the comments section to share their sorrow at hearing that Carole's would be shutting down. The hot dog business' Facebook page was quickly flooded with crying emojis, fond memories of eating hot dogs at the legendary roadside stand and customers begging Carole to reconsider.

The only problem is that Carole's isn't closing for good. The unfortunately-worded announcement was just intended to let customers know that the Hudson Valley hot dog queen would be taking a much-needed vacation from August 10 through the first Tuesday in September.

Carole's Hot Dogs is very active on Facebook and adept at social media, so it's possible that the cheeky posting was an attempt at generating some free publicity. It's unclear if the post was purposely made to sound as if the closure was permanent or if it was just an unfortunately worded announcement made in haste.

Either way, the confusion caused such a stir that Carole was forced to re-edit the posting to clarify that the closing was just temporary. All of the comments from customers who thought the hot dog cart was shutting down have apparently either been deleted or hidden from public view.

With that crisis diverted we can now focus on more important things... like stocking up on chili sauce for the freezer to last through Carole's long vacation.