CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 30, 2026--
America’s birthday only comes once a year – and this year, it’s a big one. As America’s Party Stop, Circle K, the global convenience store chain, is bringing the whole celebration together this July – more refreshing deals, new merch, big prizes and a continued commitment to the communities that make summer worth celebrating. Here’s how the party comes to life.
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Raise a Polar Pop to 250 Years
America’s birthday deserves an iconic drink. On Wednesday, July 1, Circle K’s Inner Circle members* can grab a Polar Pop in any size, for just 25 cents at participating Circle K locations nationwide** – in partnership with PepsiCo.
To give the most dedicated Polar Pop lovers a way to show their pride, customers can also grab Circle K’s latest limited-edition Polar Pop hats and shirts at participating locations now – on sale for $11 each or two for $20 for a limited time only.
“The Polar Pop is a Circle K staple that has been our customers’ favorite way to cool off summer after summer — and now we want to give them a wearable way to show their love,” said Trey Powell, Senior Vice President, U.S. Food & Retail. “And this year, with America turning 250, there's never been more to celebrate. Circle K is showing up the way we always do, with great value, big prizes and a little extra confetti."
Scratch & Win to Keep the Summer Going
The fun doesn’t stop there. Starting July 1 and running through September 1, Circle K is launching Scratch & Win – a new daily instant win game available in the Circle K app. Simply open the app, navigate to Scratch & Win, and “scratch” to reveal whether you've won. Anyone can play once per day all summer long for a chance to win prizes, including free Polar Pops and a variety of popular beverages and merchandise items. Inner Circle members unlock even more with eligibility for prizes including 25 weekly chances to win a $250 Circle K gift card, $10,000 weekly cash prizes and four grand prizes of $25,000 in cash*** – because the best summers are the ones where anything can happen.
Celebrating the Communities That Make Summer Special
The celebrations extend beyond the store. At Circle K, America’s Party Stop is more than great deals – it’s about showing up for the communities we serve. Throughout July, Circle K is teaming up with the American Red Cross to support disaster relief efforts and first responders across the U.S. Customers can round up their purchases at self-checkout, with the proceeds going directly to the American Red Cross.
That giving extends to July 24, when Circle K joins the NACS Foundation in celebrating 24/7 Day, an annual nationwide initiative honoring the everyday heroes who serve their communities around the clock. First responders can stop in to receive a free hot dog, cookie and Polar Pop as a thank you for their service.**
Customers can stay up to date on the latest deals, rewards and ways to give back at circlek.com/america-250 and by downloading the Circle K app. Follow Circle K on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
*Not an Inner Circle rewards member yet? Joining the program is free and simple, giving members access to ongoing savings and benefits all summer long. Customers can enroll in four ways:
Message and data rates may apply. Text STOP to opt-out. Seewww.circlek.com/ictcfor more details.
**Available in participating locations, while supplies last
***No Purchase Necessary. US Resident 18+. Ends 9/1/2026. Official Rules visitwww.circlek.com/circle-k-scratch-and-win.
About Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.
Couche-Tard is a global leader in convenience and mobility, operating in 27 countries and territories, with close to 17,300 stores, of which approximately 13,200 offer road transportation fuel. With its well-known Couche-Tard and Circle K banners, it is one of the largest independent convenience store operators in the United States and it is a leader in the convenience store industry and road transportation fuel retail in Canada, Scandinavia, the Baltics, Belgium, as well as in Ireland. It also has an important presence in Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, as well as in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. Approximately 149,500 people are employed throughout its network.
Circle K is celebrating America's 250th birthday in style — Inner Circle rewards members can grab a Polar Pop in any size for just 25¢ on July 1, plus score limited-edition merch and big prizes all summer long.
This year’s class of “Great Immigrants, Great Americans” includes Citi CEO Jane Fraser, Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Hernan Diaz and Cristina Rivera Garza, and fashion designer Gabriela Hearst. The newly renamed Andrew Carnegie Foundation announced the honorees Tuesday as immigration advocates expressed concern about the future of U.S. immigration policy following last week’s Supreme Court rulings.
Foundation President Dame Louise Richardson said the awards, launched in 2006, have never been meant to be political. Earlier this month, the foundation changed its name from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to emphasize its nonprofit status and connection to famed industrialist Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant.
“We’re not articulating it in response to this moment,” Richardson told The Associated Press. “But it seems especially important at this moment that we celebrate immigrants and their contributions and also that we present a view of immigrants different from the ones so often portrayed in the media.”
The immigration debate continues at the highest levels of power, as President Donald Trump’s administration executes his agenda to increase immigration enforcement and reduce the numbers of legal immigrants and asylum seekers in the country. On the other side, Pope Leo XIV said, “Human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border,” as he visited a once-notorious epicenter of the European migration debate in Spain earlier this month.
Richardson — a naturalized American citizen, born in Ireland — said the entire issue has “become so fraught, especially with the movement against legal immigration and, in particular, the visas for highly skilled people.”
“That just strikes me as an act of self-harm on a national level,” she added, “because so many of these people are the engines of the economy.”
Honoree Dr. Iman Abuzeid, co-founder and CEO of the artificial intelligence-driven healthcare career platform Incredible Health, sees the award as recognition not just for her accomplishments, but for everyone who helped her along the way.
“And if my story makes it feel like it’s more possible for someone else, then that’s probably the part that I care about the most,” added the native of Sudan, who now lives in San Francisco.
Abuzeid said she specifically chose to emigrate to the United States after living in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and completing medical school in England.
“It is the best country for what I’m trying to do,” she said. “I think if you’re ambitious and you’re willing to work hard and you’ve got some skills, it is probably the best country in the world for you.”
Being an immigrant, Abuzeid said, has given her the drive to take on risk and bet on her own abilities. It has also influenced her to build Incredible Health in a way that balances the needs of employers looking to hire health care workers with the career needs of the workers, about 20% of whom are immigrants.
“I think being from Sudan does make me a little bit more attuned to topics like bias and diversity,” she said. “Because we’re operating a marketplace at scale, we can see these patterns in our data where workers of certain last names were seeing bias against them. … So when we removed that, we were able to improve that part of the marketplace.”
Honoree Cristian Măcelaru, conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, said immigration offers both the immigrant and their new home country a chance to improve their lives.
“This is an opportunity we should hold dear,” the native of Romania said. “It really makes for a unique kind of country.”
It also creates a unique artistic point of view, said Măcelaru, who moved to Michigan to study music at Interlochen Arts Academy when he was 16.
“I’ve met so many incredible people that were supportive of my arrival to the United States and embracing of who I was,” he said. “But, at the same time, there is that nostalgia for what you’ve left behind that accompanies you on a daily basis. … The immigrant experience never leaves you.”
Măcelaru, who conducted the Orchestre National de France during the Paris Olympics opening ceremony viewed by more than a billion people in 2024, said culture becomes stronger when it appreciates the strengths of others.
“I think all of us actually love the cultures of different places,” said Măcelaru, who makes a point of diversifying the music presented by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. “It doesn’t matter where we are on the planet, you end up loving music that is from a different place. You end up loving food that is from a different country.”
Honoree Gregory Nagy, Harvard University’s Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and a professor of Comparative Literature, takes it a step further.
“To have an influx of new cultures and new ways of looking at things — that variety is the human fabric,” said the native of Hungary who emigrated with his family as a boy following World War II. They first went to Canada, and then to the United States when his father was invited to become a professor of classical piano at Indiana University. “I’m just awestruck by how important the melting pot is.”
Nagy, who prides himself on being “a friendly Midwesterner” after spending his formative years in Bloomington, Indiana, uses the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard’s thoughts on repetition — how a person changes an idea even if they only repeat it — to back up that belief.
But he also supports it with his ongoing teaching. Nagy’s class on “The Ancient Greek Hero,” which he has taught for more than 50 years and is currently the longest-running class at Harvard, continues to change with the times, while remaining true to its subject matter.
He has studied how “The Oath of the Ephebes,” from more than 2,400 years ago, connects the importance of environmentalism to being a good citizen. He says the ancient Greek idea of heroism is closer to modern comic book heroes than to the idealized, perfect versions many Americans hold dear.
That evolution is driven by young people, as reflected in the election of Péter Magyar as prime minister of Nagy’s beloved Hungary in April, the social changes that followed, and the new perspectives brought by immigration, Nagy said.
“I was very fortunate to become an immigrant,” he said. “And I was lucky enough to achieve puberty in Indiana, so that Americanizes you very well.”
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
FILE - Chief conductor Cristian Macelaru , center, performs with the WDR symphony orchestra at the traditional President's charity concert at the symphonic concert hall Koelner Philharmonie in Cologne, Germany, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, Pool, File)
FILE - Citi CEO Jane Fraser speaks during the APEC CEO Summit, Nov. 16, 2023, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
