The magic word

I refer to is as the magic word.

Want a lot of people to show up at your event? Include the magic word.

Free.

My wife and I are taking her dad to an early-morning medical procedure on Saturdays.

We pick him up around 5:30, then head to the lab. Last Saturday along the way we happened to pass the local Chick-fil-A restaurant. And we saw an odd thing. There in the brutal pre-dawn cold was a line of people waiting for the joint to open. That would not be for an hour.

After we dropped him off, we headed back home. We couldn’t resist. We drove into the parking lot. The line had grown since we went past. People were bundled in blankets. Some had tents. Others were shivering in chairs. Obviously they had been there for some time.

The restaurant was running a promotion. The first 50 people in line would get 26 free meals. Basically that amounts to one every two weeks for a year.

Free is a powerful word. Any chance I get to slap it on the front page of the newspaper, you can be I will take advantage of it.

Also on Saturday, the Brandywine River Museum was honoring the legacy of iconic Chadds Ford artist Andrew Wyeth. They were exhibiting a special showing of his work, including the first time his most famous work, “Christina’s World,” would ever hang at the museum.

Oh, and one other thing. Admission on Saturday would be free.

I had a feeling what was going to happen. I made plans to send a reporter and photographer. That was the easy part. The toughest part of his assignment for the reporter was getting anywhere near the museum. Route 1 was jammed in the area. Getting into the parking lot was almost an impossibility. She eventually parked on a side road and hoofed it the rest of the way.

The museum indicated they set an all-time attendance mark on Saturday. A total of 3,896 visitors went through the turnstiles. No doubt many of them simply loved Wyeth and wanted to pay their respects to the man most closely linked to the museum and the Chadds Ford art community.

I’m also not so naive to believe that the price did not have something to do with it.

Today, the Denny’s restaurant chain is getting into the act. They are offering a free Grand Slam breakfast until 2 p.m.

I would suggest you get ready to stand in line.

Free does that to people.

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