Annette Strauch of Wheaton reported that "Cars wrapped two deep around the Wheaton Chick-fil-A, out the parking lot, and down the street to the stop sign in support of the restaurant chain and its Christian president, Dan Cathy. Pictures do not do the scene justice!
At 2:00 in the afternoon, normally after the lunch rush has died down, over 132 individuals stood in line and almost 50 cars full of hungry supporters waited to "vote" for Christian values with their wallets. The seats were packed and an overflow crowd sat outside under a canopy set up for the occasion.
Chick-fil-A associate, Cindy Rambeaux, said all the employees were called in to work today in anticipation of the crowd. The atmosphere was wonderfully family-friendly--no pushing, no displays of anger, and no foul language despite the long lines and stress on the employees.
In keeping with the almost festive atmosphere, customers began to give nicknames to the order-takers to call out as they expedited the backlog of orders. There was a "Joy to the World," a "Happy Feet," and to a burst of laughter, even a "Rahm Emanuel!"
Rambeaux said they had at least five times as many customers as usual for a Wednesday afternoon. Many were first timers. Based on the reports of large crowds at multiple Illinois Chick-fil-A locations, Emanuel's and Chicago Democratic Alderman Joe Moreno's comments have served only to advertise the popular chain and increase their revenues!"
Helene Miller sent us the following photo, and wrote: "This was the line around 7:30pm last night. People stood in line very patiently for up to 90 minutes and the drive-thru took one friend one hour and forty-five minutes. People were friendly, courteous, and so very patient. Did not hear one complaint....about anything. Even the woman who fainted from the heat earlier in the day insisted on waiting in line after the paramedics made sure she was ok....she was determined to log her support for our freedom of speech!"
Sharon Mallek from Orland Park sent in the photo below and the following video HERE
Brendan Appel from Schaumburg sent the following photo:
Supporters kept coming even into the night. Jenny Wencel sent us the following photo from Orland Park:
Richard Ryan sent the photo below and wrote "We had a great time at the Schaumburg Chick-Fil-A -- even though you couldn't get near the place. When we got there just before 9pm, we were told they had an appx 2 hour wait. Right after we found the back of the "line", we learned that they were out of food and the line had been cut off.
It didn't matter, we were there mostly to show our support. And, I suspect a lot of other folks were too. The "line" was a line only in a loose sense of the word, as people seemed to be enjoying being there and talking with like-minded folks more than getting closer to the door.
We had a great time. As we were leaving, I told my wife the scene reminded me of a Frank Capra movie."
