Burger King: Whoppers, Star Wars cards and more

The original Burger King in Lethbridge
was recently torn down.
Source: https://www.cylex-canada.ca/company/
burger-king-12372414.html
(May be subject to copyright)

It was the end of an era when the walls of the Burger King on Third Avenue in Lethbridge came tumbling down a few weeks ago.

It was the original Burger King in Lethbridge, and held a lot of memories of the 1980s.

In the beginning
My cousin Carl was always in the know about new, cool things. He had been the first to tell me about going to this new, hip burger place called “McDonald’s”. Now, he was telling me about this new place coming to Lethbridge called “Burger King”.

Somehow, I got the idea it was opening soon, probably because I thought Carl said so. Anyway, I got my parents to go down to Third Avenue where Burger King was “open”. From the outside, it looked like it may be open. When we got inside, it was still under construction and workers were buzzing around everywhere. Oddly, no one either noticed us or bothered to see what we wanted. I wonder if they had a lot of people checking the place out.

I had to wait just a little bit longer.

Eventually, we did get to Burger King – but only after Carl told me he had eaten there.

I was impressd by the sign that said "Home of the Whopper".

In the cards
Pretty soon, stopping at Burger King was a place we would stop occasionally. Sadly, The Whopper had some sauces I could not eat. Although I liked their cheeseburgers, and really liked their onion rings, when they started offering a veal parmesian sandwich that became my favourite.

That was the case when they started a promotion I could not get enough of – Star Wars scratch cards.

“The Empire Strikes Back” had come out a few months before, when I heard about the scratch cards. You could scratch and win all these great prizes, but what I really liked was if you didn’t win any major prize you always got three “Star Wars” cards as a consolation. It was like a participation prize but I loved it. They were not three individual cards, but in a strip of three. We could cut them into individual cards if we wanted, or not. I really didn’t want to.

What I remember most about that promotion was when my cousins Fred and Chris and Henry came for a week or two to stay. My parents were such good hosts and took us to Burger King for those “Star Wars” cards.

Pre-game show
By Grade 12, Burger King was firmly established, and took on new meaning. High school football games were on every Friday night in September and October. Back then, all the games were played at the Lethbridge Sportsplex field. Even if there was no Lethbridge team, let’s say Kate Andrews versus Cardston, the game was at the Sportsplex. That made it the same for everyone.

So we started going to Burger King before games, because it really was on the way. I recall frequenting Burger King with Dave Perlich and his friends, the three exchange students from Germany.

A few weeks into Grade 12, Burger King took on new meaning.

I’ll have a Crush (but not the pop)
It was then that I developed a crush on a classmate named Mal. I soon discovered she worked part time at Burger King, so that was an added incentive to go.

There was one time, me and my friend Randy went to go see her at Burger King.

I had entertained thoughts of talking to her, but saw she was in the back and did not see us. Back then, Burger King had a microphone at the till that staff spoke orders to the kitchen into. It was abandoned at that moment too.

“Just grab the microphone,” Randy joked.

It would have been a cool scene – if we were in a sitcom.

Instead, we just waved as we placed our order, and that was the end of it.

I never did ask her out.

The years after
The next time Burger King came to mind was when it opened in Edmonton in 1996. When I first heard that, I thought, “We’ve had Burger King in Lethbridge for close to 20 years”.

Not so in Edmonton, or anywhere north of Red Deer.

The way I heard the story was that someone who owned some Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises had opened accompanying burger places called “Burger King”. I do recall such a place in Brooks as well.

The whole thing went to court, and ultimately the solution was simple. A line was drawn by Red Deer, through Innisfail to be exact according to Wikipedia. So, south of that, Burger King franchises started springing up. North of that, they did not.

When I moved to Edmonton, I never noticed the absence of Burger King because there were so many other options.

Yet, when Burger King finally opened in 1996 in Edmonton, it was a big deal. I heard reports of line-ups blocks long. It was really kind of funny.

The first time I went was with my friend Jeremy. It was pretty late at night when he climbed into his car that he affectionately called “The Admiral”.

As we drove down the street a car was coming at us in an oncoming lane. Something seemed strange. That was when I realized we were on a one-way street and the oncoming vehicle was going the wrong way. No big deal, because the streets were completely desserted, so we averted disaster.

I don’t recall exactly what I ordered, because Burger King was not new to me.

When I moved back to Lethbridge in 1998, more Burger Kings would sprout up after that.

That, I am assuming, is what made the original one on Third Avenue expendable.

Parting thoughts
Like so many other parts of growing up, the memories of Burger King are more about people than food. Whether it was Star Wars cards or teenage crushes, the place renowned for the char-broiled burger will always hold a special place in my heart.

And not any Burger King, the one on Third Avenue.

Seeing it torn down, replaced by an empty lot, really does mean the end of an era.