(Article Reprinted from June 27, 2002 edition)
Stew Leonard, Sr. stood out in front of his, Norwalk store for hours on Wednesday, regaling a camera crew with stories about the history of his dairy and grocery stores - the time he sold watermelons at cost to get customers in his store, for example.

"My account said 'You can't do that!'" said Leonard, who said that he could hear people's brakes squealing as they saw how little he was selling the watermelons for. "But I said 'Look at all the other things that they're buying.' That was when I learned to be a merchant.

Leonard is taking his local celebrity status a step further. The Norwalk grocery store proprietor is going to be featured as part of a four-hour documentary, called "US-1: Avenue of America," which studies the history of Route 1 and will air on the History Channel next summer.

The team of documentary-makers, producer Eric Marcolino, director of photography Dave Huntley and sound technician Peter Freedman, have been traveling north to south on the road, which runs from Fort Kent, Maine to Key West, Fla and focusing on historical events and establishments that heave sprung up along the road.

Stew Leonard's is only business that will be highlighted in Connecticut.

"Stew Leonard is perfect to represent the state," said Marcolino, who said that he decided to highlight the store because of its reputation. "Everybody talks about (Stew's as) the best dairy store and the 'World's Largest Dairy Store."

Leonard was thrilled to be chosen for the documentary.

"I think it's incredible," he said, while taking breaks during the interview. "This is the only thing that they're doing in Connecticut."

According to Marcolino, he and his team have been working on the mini-series for nearly a year and a half, selecting stories from each state that US-1 runs through.

In Maine, the story is the rum runners of the Prohibition. In Massachusetts, the Post Road, which later became Route1. In New York the series tells the story of the George Washington Bridge. Each of these segments will be anywhere from five to twelve minutes long and will tell its subject's story and the impact that the Route One had upon that subject..

The documentary team will be filming in Norwalk until Friday. Their next stop is South Carolina.