While July Fourth is America's Favorite Grilling Holiday, Other Countries Celebrate...

While July Fourth is America's Favorite Grilling Holiday, Other Countries
Celebrate Their National Holidays Much the Same Way

PALATINE, Ill., June 24 /PRNewswire/ -- While the Fourth of July barbecue is
as uniquely American as baseball and apple pie, the first International Weber
GrillWatch Survey(TM) shows that outdoor cooks around the globe celebrate
their own national holidays in much the same way.

Independence Day is the number one grilling holiday in the United States,
according to the Survey, with 88 percent of American grill owners choosing to
cook outside during this day. Interestingly, grillers from Canada and
Australia also cite their countries' national holidays as their top days for
grilling--as well as those from France and Denmark.

The recent International Weber GrillWatch Survey, the only one of its kind,
probes the grilling habits, knowledge, and preferences of 15,614 grill owners
in 15 countries across five continents, representing a total of 390 million
grillers in countries with populations totaling 2.1 billion people:

-- Canada / Canada Day: Canada Day commemorates the July 1, 1867
enactment
of the British North America Act (which united Canada as a single
country of four provinces), and is the top grilling holiday with 73
percent of Canadian grillers cooking outside. Labor Day is a close
second there at 63 percent, followed by Father's Day (53 percent),
and Victoria Day (50 percent).
-- Australia / Australia Day: Australia Day is celebrated annually on
January 26. It recognizes the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet at
Sydney
Cove and the proclamation of British sovereignty over the eastern
seaboard of Australia. According to the Survey, 69 percent of outdoor
cooks there grill this day, with Christmas and New Year's Day as a
close second and third (65 and 63 percent, respectively).
-- France / 14 Juillet (Bastille Day): Fifty-four percent of French
grillers cook outside on Bastille Day, the national holiday
commemorating the end of the French Revolution and the symbolic
storming
of the Bastille. Ponts du mois de Mai (long holiday weekends in May)
are
second at 52 percent.
-- Denmark / Grundlovsdag: Fifty-two percent of Danish Survey respondents
say this is their favorite day to barbecue, making it the number one
choice. While not an official holiday, the Danes celebrate this day
when
King Frederik the VII signed the first Danish democratic constitution
on
June 5, 1849-putting an end to the absolute monarchy. Coincidentally,
it's also Father's Day there.

-- Norway and Sweden / Mid-summer's Eve: Called St. Hans aften in
Norway and Midsommarafton in Sweden, 81 percent of Norwegian and 75
percent of Swedish Weber International Survey respondents cite this
June
23 holiday as their favorite. Also according to the Survey, both
countries choose their respective national holidays as their second
most
popular times to cook outdoors: Fifty-eight percent of Norwegians
grill
on Nasjonaldag (celebrating the 1814 ratification of the country's
constitution) and 40 percent of Swedes grill on Sveriges nationaldag,
which celebrates their country's origins.

Here are some more favorite grilling holidays from other countries that were
included in the International Weber GrillWatch Survey:

-- Mexico / Dia del Padre: Mexican grill owners responded that
Father's Day is a top grilling holiday at 57 percent, but their
number one favorite occasion to grill overall is birthdays (77
percent).
-- Brazil / Ano Novo: New Year's is a huge grilling holiday in Brazil,
with 78 percent of Survey respondents there celebrating around the
barbecue.
-- Germany / An Geburstagen (birthdays): While 76 percent of German
Survey
respondents cited birthdays as their favorite occasion to grill,
Pfingsten, a religious holiday, is second at 56 percent. Pfingsten
celebrates Pentecost, 50 days after Easter Sunday.
-- UK / Summer Bank Holiday: Eighty-two percent of UK grillers cook
outdoors on the Summer Bank Holiday that falls on the last Monday in
August.
-- Holland / Verjaardag: The Dutch choose birthdays and anniversaries as
their favorite grilling occasions (69 percent) with Pinksteren, a
religious holiday celebrating Pentecost, second at 37 percent.
-- Spain / 15 de Agosto Asuncion: International Weber GrillWatch Survey
respondents in Spain choose this August 15 holiday as their favorite
day
to cook outside (57 percent); it commemorates the assumption of the
Virgin Mary.
-- Italy / Ferragosto: As their top grilling occasion, 76 percent of
Italian grillers light the outdoor barbecue on August 15 to also
recognize the assumption of the Virgin Mary during the middle of the
country's month-long August holiday.

-- India / Festival Season: While store-bought barbecues is a slowly
burgeoning market in this country, 56 percent of those who grill
choose
birthdays as their favorite occasions followed by the late
summer/early
fall "Festival season" at 50 percent.

Methodology
All online fieldwork was conducted by U.S.-based Greenfield Online in 12
countries, while telephone interviews in Mexico and India were conducted by
TNS, and in Brazil by Synovate. Final data was analyzed by Denver-based
KeyStat Marketing, Inc.

SOURCE Weber Grills

Sherry L. Bale, +1-224-836-2724, sbale@weberstephen.com, or Melanie Hill,
+1-224-836-2778, mhill@weberstephen.com, both of Weber Grills