A concerned reader notified the Advocate this morning that a crowd of people were camping last night and this morning outside the new Lake Highlands Chick-Fil-A at Abrams and I-635. For what? Some sort of controversy? Is it PETA protesting the treatment of chickens or the exploitation of cows for commercial gain? No, it wasn’t a protest — these folks were there (some since 3:30 a.m. Wednesday) for the promise of free food for a year. I just got off the phone with Barbara Gatti, marketing director for the Lake Highlands and Richardson Chick-Fil-As. She says that in honor of the new store’s grand opening, the restaurant offered free food for a year to the first 100 customers on the grand opening day, which is today.

She and some of the other Chick-Fil-A staff made a party of it — they hired a DJ, screened a movie and served food and ice cream to the 118 people who spent last night outside the store. And this morning at 6, they all came in for breakfast. The first hundred won the free Chick-Fil-A for a year the rest got a free breakfast … "then they all went home to sleep."

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If you get a chance, stop by after school — the LHHS Wranglers will perform there this afternoon at 4 p.m. and visitors will probably be treated to some menu samples. They are open until 10 p.m.