Story & Photos By Lev D. Zilbermints
EAST ORANGE – McDonald’s, located at 375 Central Avenue, held a Grand Re-Opening on Saturday, January 11, between 12 noon – 3 p.m. Inside the spacious building, celebrations went underway. In the center of a vast room, a large table with chess boards and pieces was set up. At one board, two kids were busy playing chess. A third child was watching the game.
Nearby, an artist was twisting balloons into colorful shapes. An entertainer, dressed in black, with red hearts on black suspenders, amazed visitors with magic tricks. “Nicky”, the family entertainer, also did card tricks. A 360 spin camera booth was available.
Face painting and balloon twisting were available. Magic by Mickey Magic was done. $2.99 Happy Meals (4 piece Cheeseburger of Hamburger) were available all day. Free raffle tickets were available with any purchase. The prizes were a large and small version of a video game.
As loud music played, customers signed up to order food and drink. A mailman, dressed in his postal blue uniform with red and gray stripes, held his baby daughter in his arms. Close by, a boy held his long green balloon, with a grey balloon wrapped around it. At a nearby table, a make-up artist applied make-up and paint to children’s faces. Two little kids had white half-skulls painted on their faces. A little girl had the shape of a butterfly painted over her eyes, nose and cheeks.
Yellow cupcakes were set up on a separate table. No one seemed to be interested in them other than kids.
Chess attracted a lot of interest. Most of the chess-players were little kids. They had no idea how the pieces moved. To get around this, kids moved pieces every which way except for the proper way. In a scene from the seventeenth century, the King jumped over other pieces. Pawns moved diagonally; the Rook jumped over other pieces. None of these moves were correct. But this was kids having fun.
“Local Talk” interviewed Jessica Brody, the owner of the McDonald’s, via text messages. According to Ms. Brody, the customers “loved the opening. Said they wish we could do it every Saturday.”
Asked about how long the McDonald’s has had its current owner, Ms. Brody wrote, “My mother and I have been the owners for 20 years. The McDonald’s has been there probably over 50 years. 40 years maybe they been there.”
The ribbon-cutting ceremony, scheduled for 2 p.m., was held almost an hour later.
