Greeley resident Mary Bowers, a competitive easter ranked among the top 50 in the world and the top 11 among women, plans to raise awareness about her unique American story and those of other adopted children by participating in the Nathan's hot dog-eating competition at Coney Island on the 4th of July.
Born in South Korea and adopted at five months old by Billy and Cindy Bowers of Greeley, Mary stumbled into the the competitive eating world in 2011. She became the first-ever women's wild card participant in the Nathan's International Hot Dog Eating Contest. In 2020, while searching for her birth parents in Korea, she discovered she had been kidnapped and trafficked as a baby. Now, she aims to bring attention to the issue of illegal and fraudulent adoptions by representing South Korea in the competition. Her goal? To eat 16 hot dogs—nearly double her average—to represent each of the adoptee cases, including her own, now on a petition to the U.S. Congress.
“Nearly 400 Korean adoptees from around the world have submitted cases, and they’re finding significantly more people who were affected,” Bowers said. “So I’m hoping that in this Nathan’s run, I can bring awareness to the issue and then also get the American public to root for us and provide their support.”