Ferrell's Hamburgers, Star of the Show

Hamburgers in Hopkinsville, KY

Ferrells, December 1, 2006

TroyServe, a Hoptown Hall forum member, has posted a time-lapse video of Hopkinsville's famous Ferrell's Hamburgers on YouTube.

TroyServe made the video from Hoptown Hall Webcam images during the recent snowstorm. (The webcam is permanently focused on Ferrell's, a tiny 24-hour hamburger joint that is a treasured icon of Hopkinsville, KY.)

In the video, the snow covers the street, deepens, and then melts. Watch carefully, and you'll see some curious details blip by -- for example, a guy pushing a truck down Main Street and a snow shoveler sitting down on the sidewalk to rest.

Ferrell's was in our local news this week because a grease fire ignited behind its grill. The fire department was called after the cook couldn't put out the fire with a splash of salt. Meanwhile, the Kentucky New Era's (our newspaper's) president Chuck Henderson wielded a fire extinguisher against the flames without success.

The fire department killed the flames in very short order (thus avoiding shame, ridicule. and public condemnation.) The fire occurred at 8:30 a.m., and the restaurant was open for business again by 10:30 a.m.

In other news about Ferrell's, it was recently inspected by the Health Department and received a score of 75/100. The re-inspection score was 89/100.

Critical violations included raw eggs stored by a hot grill, employees washing hands in dishwashing sink and using common towel to dry hands. In addition, an employee failed to wash hands after returning from break. Another major violation was that the same spatula was used to flip cooked and uncooked burgers.

Source: "Restaurant Inspections, "Kentucky New Era, February 26, 2008

Some local residents are unperturbed.

Did anyone really think Ferrell's would get a high grade?
I don't believe this low rating in the KNE is going to affect their business much. Most of their customers probably don't even read the KNE.
As long as they are open, Ferrell's will still be slapping them burgers on that hot grill -- with whatever spatula the old lady chooses!

Source: Comment by bigcountry on the thread, "Restaurant Inspections. " Hoptown Hall Forum, February 27, 2008

The "old lady" is Mrs. Cecil Ferrell who is in her upper 80's. I believe she is 89. She was 86 in June, 2005, when she shared a stage with President Bush. He was in Hopkinsville to promote the privatization of Social Security and Mrs. Ferrell was on a panel of local citizens who participated in the presentation. President Bush commented that Mrs. Ferrell reminded him of his mother.

The banter between Bush and Ferrell quickly turned to hamburgers.

"I'm really hungry. Can you help me out?" Bush asked.

"The only thing is to bring you a hamburger," Ferrell said as the crowd erupted in cheers and laughter.

Source: "Bush Touts Plan" by Jennifer P. Brown, Kentucky New Era, June 3, 2005. (Subscription required.)

Ferrell's Hamburgers opened in 1929. A second Ferrell's is located in Cadiz, KY, and it enjoys a similar affection and loyalty from its patrons.

In case you missed it when I posted it previously, you can download a great Ferrell's Hamburgers wallpaper for your computer's desktop.