I don’t usually eat at McDonald’s but Sunday, February 1st was a special occasion, “Big Mac Day”, where the proceeds from each Big Mac and Big Mac Meal from any of the 3 Cornwall location’s and the Lancaster location, went to support the Children’s Treatment Centre – Cornwall Ontario.
Sheldon and I met up with Val and Christal Bowen and Val’s parents Pam and Pete at the Lancaster McDonalds around 2:30 in the afternoon as they were touring all four locations.
Christal told me that last year the 2 locations in Cornwall, on Second Street and Brookdale Avenue, sold 1,262 Big Macs This year was the second annual Big Mac Day and the total goal between the 4 locations was to sell 3,000 Big Mac’s.
The Lancaster location wanted to sell 100 (usually they sell 50 a day) so Sheldon and I ordered a Big Mac and a Big Mac Meal to do our part and when we left at 3:10 pm. the Manager Dana Leger told me that they had already sold 103, so we were happy that we helped this location reach their goal.
Do you know how the Big Mac Day Tradition began?
Val’s Grandparents, Cecil (Grand-Papa, known as GPP) and Lorraine Robertson were the first owners of McDonald’s in 1972. Cecil passed away on February 1st, 2018 and after his funeral, the family wondered where to eat for their last meal together and of course, the obvious choice was McDonald’s. So every year since then, the family gathers to eat Big Macs to honour Cecil’s legacy. Val always asks family members and friends to send in their photos eating their Big Macs and posts a collage with the photos.
After seeing Val’s post with all the photos, in 2024 the family was invited to McDonald’s, by Matt Marchand, the Market Supervisor, to make their own Big Macs and last year Cornwall’s Second Street and Brookdale Avenue locations began celebrating February 1st as Big Mac Day in memory of Cecil and Lorraine Robertson.
I was happy last year to have met quite a few members of the family, even some who had travelled from Florida, to celebrate this tradition, which had become a family event since 2018.
L to R back row: Leila (friend from Florida), Jazzy from Florida (great grand daughter of Cecile and Loraine Robertson), Adele, (Val’s cousin from Florida), Mike (Cecile and Loraine’s Son in law), Grimace, Sandra and Val’s dad Pete, (Cecile and Loraine’s Son in law).
L to R front row: Christal and Val Bowen, Matt Marchand (McDonald’s Marketing Supervisor) and Pam (Val’s mother and the daughter of Cecile and Loraine Robertson).
Last year the Big Mac cost $3.99, the same price that it was back in 2018. This year it was $4.99 but if you got the Big Mac Meal you paid $6.99 which made the Big Mac $3.99 as it was back in 2018.
I found out that Val’s dad Pete, was sent by his in-laws to attend Hamburger University near Chicago to learn how to not only make the hamburgers but also learn how to work with staff and customers and on his return became Manager of this family business. (I’ve never heard of Hamburger University, have you?).
Last year I also met Sandra who worked for Cecile and Lorraine starting at the age of 15 and was still with McDonald’s restaurant 53 years later. She said that Cecil and Lorraine we’re the best bosses she ever had and they bought the meaning of a family restaurant to a different level but says that Matt and Owner Kyle who are now running the restaurants still run them in the same caring way.
I was very interested to see how much a Big Mac cost back in 1972 and Sandra told me it was 65 cents. In fact you could get a hamburger, french fry and a drink for 85 cents and you could still get change back from a dollar. Check out the pic of the old price board (a little blurry) from 1973 – I’m sure we will certainly never see prices like these again…
I checked in with Val and Christal to see if the four McDonald’s locations reached their goal of $3,000 Big Macs and all proceeds have been matched by the McDonald’s Corporation. Everyone was asked to send a photo of themselves eating their Big Mac and post it with the hashtag #BigMacDay and Christal told me that photos came in from as far as Ireland, Gatineau, Mexico, Florida and even Portugal where Christal’s parents, Donna and Terry Huizinga, are on vacation. They brought Big Mac and Fry boxes to Portugal in honor of this day, and took over the local restaurant called “Teasers”, buying rounds of burgers and fries for their friends and eating them in the boxes as they would here in Cornwall.
A final word from Val Bowen, whose grandparents were responsible for this Special Day!
“Wow. Big Mac Day was a huge success and our hearts are overflowing. We received so many pictures that we couldn’t keep up with all the Thank Yous, so here is one from the entire family. Thank you to everyone who participated, supported, or celebrated in any way. Whether it was a veggie Big Mac, a classic Big Mac, or just cheering from afar. We truly appreciate each and every one of you!
A special thank you to McDonald’s management and to all the media who came out to share the day with us; your support means the world. Thank you for the warm welcomes at all four of your locations. So here is to McDonald’s, here is to family, here is to the timeless bond that brings us together in remembering the couple who started it all, one Big Mac at a time”.
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