McDonald’s event celebrates new digs

Free Big Macs attracted a crowd Tuesday evening for the grand opening of the new version of McDonald’s on the northeast corner of North Carson Street and Winnie Lane.

The lure was both curiosity and free Big Mac sandwiches, with one per week for a year, going to the first 300 people in line at the 6 to 9 p.m. opening for the fast food chain’s newest building in Carson City. The old McDonald’s on the same site was razed and this new one erected. A guy posing as the farmer Old MacDonald of lyrical fame was first in line for the Big Macs.

“I had nothing else to do today, so I figured I’d be Old MacDonald,” said Jim Phillips, 77, of Carson City. Wearing bib overalls, a Mickey Mouse tie and a sun hat Phillips arrived at about 1:30 p.m. with a chair and National Geographic magazine to wait for the 6 p.m. start. He said he is a patient man and likes Big Macs.

Among other things featured during the evening’s festivities were a ribbon-cutting ceremony, red carpet photographs, face painting for children, free balloons plus 10,000 smaller food items and 4,000 small gifts, said Derrick Young of Gardnerville, director of operations for the Kassity Management Group that redid the McDonald’s on the site. He said Kassity Management has a dozen outlets.

Among those waiting near the end of the line near opening time was Chris Martin, a five-year Carson City resident originally from Georgia, who wore his kilt for the occasion. He said he used to play bagpipes at funerals, weddings and other events in Georgia but plays less now. He said some older customers of the previous McDonalds on the site had urged him to wear his kilt for the reopening.

Also toward the back of the line that curled from Phillips spot on Carson Street to the restaurant driveway on Winnie Lane to the east was Kyler Clark atop his father, Glenn’s shoulders. Though they were back in the line, it seemed certain from eyeballing the line ahead of them they and Martin in his kilt were early enough to get in on the free Big Macs weekly for a year.