Safeway launches contest to find 'America's Most Natural City'

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway announced that it will donate $20,000 to "America's Most Natural City" to help maintain its park facilities. In addition, the winning city will be awarded with 25 picnic tables, sectioned off from the 305-foot Douglas Fir table that recently broke the Guinness World Record for the World's Longest Picnic Table, which was built in celebration of Safeway's Open Nature, a new 100% natural line of high-quality foods, Safeway reported.

The winning city will be chosen via Facebook vote. Through Sept. 16, consumers can visit www.Facebook.com/Safeway and vote for one of 15 pre-selected cities where Safeway and its family of stores have a significant presence in the community. The contenders include: Austin, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Tucson and Washington, D.C. Safeway said it is further encouraging people to vote by offering the chanceto win a year's supply of free Open Nature foods.

"When we developed Open Nature, we listened to our customers to help us define what natural should mean when it comes to their food," said Nancy Cota, vice president of innovation, consumer brands at Safeway. "We heard what they were looking for in natural foods, it's now time to hear what they think makes their city the most natural city in the U.S. Whether it's their parks, outdoor activities or their promise to be environmentally friendly, we want to reward that city's commitment to being natural. Local parks and recreation departments across the country told us they need support due to budget cuts and we want to step up and make a difference."