The Hess Truck’s back — so are the memories of Christmas Eve

Every morning, my colleague Dan Alexander sends a newsletter around to the New Jersey 101.5 staff with the biggest stories from the past 24 hours, the kind of thing our hosts and news people end up reporting on air, talking about on air, writing about, or usually all three. This morning, he sent me something directly: the save-the-dates for the 2026 Hess trucks.

Not really breaking news. We expect it every year. But this year carries a little more weight than usual, since it's only the second Hess Toy Truck season since Hess Corporation itself was sold last year. The toy truck brand is continuing on as its own privately run Hess family business, which means the tradition isn't going anywhere. This year's Collector's Edition arrives September 14 at 8 a.m., and the holiday toy truck save-the-date landed this week for October 19. And yes, the jingle is already in your head. "The Hess truck's back, and it's better than ever." You're welcome.

A New Jersey story from the start

Founder Leon Hess started the business in Asbury Park in 1933, and the company built major refining and storage operations in places like Perth Amboy and Port Reading that ran for decades. Hess kept a massive retail and operational footprint across this state the whole time, and Leon Hess himself is remembered here for something else entirely too, he owned the New York Jets and moved them into Giants Stadium in East Rutherford.

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My son Steve —The first gift of Christmas, every year, without fail. | photo EJ

What the season actually means to me

Whenever a new Hess truck season kicks off, usually a couple months before Christmas, my mind goes straight to my aunt and uncle in Hammonton. I was always close with them, but they really stepped up after my parents passed young, within about a year of each other, in the early '90s. We'd always had our own Christmas Eve at home growing up. After that, my aunt and uncle started inviting my wife, our kids, and me out to Hammonton every Christmas Eve instead.

The night always started with the traditional Christmas Eve fish dinner. I couldn't tell you if there were seven kinds, but there was fish. Good conversation carried the evening along, and toward the end of the night, the presents would come out. It was always the very first gift of Christmas. My daughter got a doll. And for an era that didn't last nearly long enough, my son got that year's Hess truck.

Most of that collection got played with hard enough over the years that it's long gone now. But a few of those trucks are still sitting in my basement. My kids are in their mid-30s now, living their own lives. My aunt and uncle passed away more than a decade ago, both of them well into their 90s. The memories stay anyway. So do a few of those trucks. And every single year, when a new Hess campaign starts up again, it all comes flooding back, my aunt, my uncle, my kids as little ones, and every one of those Christmas Eves that made the loss of my parents a little easier to carry.