"Queenie Bee is coming, Queenie Bee is coming," is what Paul Revere WOULD have said if he were a child in the 1970s and he lived right down the street from a Burger Queen, which eventually became Druther's.

WE lived right down the street from Burger Queen; I grew up on Sunrise Drive and the restaurant was where Skillman's Auto Sales is now. In fact, it's the same building.

Burger Queen was unique in that it was a fast-food restaurant that offered not only burgers, but chicken and fish dinners as well. And a salad bar. Have you ever seen a salad bar in another fast-food place? I haven't.

The Kentucky/Indiana/Tennessee chain's mascot was Queenie Bee and when she'd make an appearance, she'd arrive in a helicopter and give out little plastic Queenie Bee rings. I don't have any idea how many my sister and I had.

Take a look at this vintage Burger Queen commercial:

I'd forgotten about the Queenie Bee hand puppets. And I have to wonder how many of those puppets and rings stockpiled in a warehouse somewhere when the chain changed its name to Druther's.

It kept the same menu and there were two in Owensboro. The one I mentioned on New Hartford Road and the other one over by where Don Moore Toyota/Honda is now.

When it became Druther's, it kept the same menu, but it changed mascots. But, for the life of me, I do not remember Andy Dandytale. But here he is in a 1982 commercial, nonetheless:

Do you remember this guy? I am totally clueless. Maybe if I head to the last remaining Druther's on Earth--in Campbellsville, Kentucky--maybe I'll run into him.

I've actually been wanting to go and see if it reminds me of how I remember the old locations. I will say this...the menu looks just about the same.

So maybe a road trip is in order, just for the sake of nostalgia. I never need much an excuse for a quick jaunt.

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