I wrote about April Fools a few weeks ago. In that column, I discussed the border markers falling on the KFC bucket as part of an elaborate ruse by the paper.
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I also wrote how the bucket itself was gifted by Col. Sanders, which was part of the joke.
In my youth, I believed the colonel was a man of myth. He was just a figment of our imaginations as this chicken deity who brought unparalleled fried chicken excellence.
I’d like to say that changed as I got older, but I never considered that Harland Sanders, who received the moniker of colonel due to his food success in Kentucky, was a real individual.
The title of colonel was honorary.
Not only did I not know that, but I didn’t realize he often came to Lloydminster.
Sanders visited Lloydminster in the ’50s and offered Jim Sellers, owner of Sellers’ Dairy Freeze some fried chicken.
Sellers liked the chicken so much he agreed to sell it becoming only the second Kentucky Fried Chicken franchisee in Western Canada.
The story may sound wild but the fact he drove his beat-up Nash station wagon into the store and hauled pots and pans in to cook the chicken made it sound that much more unbelievable.
Clearly in this case the chicken spoke for itself.
Sanders had visited Lloydminster several times as he expanded his chicken empire across North America.
He was out on the road often promoting his legendary chicken recipe and garnering support for more stores. He visited places like the Battlefords and Saskatoon. Globally, KFC has more than 30,000 stores with the colonel as the mascot.
The KFC in Lloydminster changed hands a number of times over its history. In 1967, Ilston Plant and Jack Allen purchased the then Sellers Dairy Freez. In 1972, Ilston Plant sold his share of the business to Jack Allen, where it was renamed Allen’s Dairy Freez Ltd.
KFC then opened in 1996 under new operators Wendy and Barry Gunn. If you go anywhere in Canada now, you’re likely to see the colonel’s face.
Here in Lloydminster, it sits on the corner across from the border markers to this day.
I’m amazed Sanders was real, and his story is pretty inspiring, how hard he worked and how passionate he was about his chicken recipe. Whenever I head over to KFC to pick up some chicken, I’ll remember this story.
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