The arches are back in business. 

After three months of renovations, the UK McDonald’s on South Limestone celebrated its grand re-opening complete with Big Macs, balloons and prizes Thursday morning. 

The aging McDonald’s restaurant that once stood at 357 South Limestone was demolished over the summer after decades of serving up burgers and fries to the UK community.

To celebrate the milestone of a shiny new storefront, the first 100 patrons to visit the new McDonald’s when it opened at 11 a.m. received a coupon for a year’s supply of Big Mac sandwiches. The coupon translates to one free sandwich each week of the year. 

The idea of 52 free sandwiches drew quite a crowd to South Limestone, as the line to get into the new store had already wrapped around the building by 10:30 a.m. But some guests like Shaun Pfeiffer had already been in line since 7:15 a.m.

Pfeiffer, the first customer in line for the grand opening, said he isn’t typically an avid McDonald’s customer, but when he heard the news about free sandwiches he knew he had to be there.

“Honestly I never really eat at McDonald’s, so it’s not really going to do anything for me other than the free Big Macs. The minute it takes me to eat each one will be nice I guess,” said Pfeiffer.

Some UK students who were in line aiming to get their hands on a Big Mac coupon said their bodies might not thank them for the free food, but that their wallets sure would.

“Honestly it’ll probably be bad for my health, but it’ll be good for my spirits,” said UK junior Larkin Mann. “We’ll definitely use it to its full extent.” 

Those who weren’t early enough to get a year’s supply of free Big Macs this morning still have a chance to win some prizes throughout the day. There will be free prize giveaways every hour on the hour, according to McDonald’s Director of Marketing April Black. 

Aside from the excitement surrounding today’s prizes, Black said the McDonald’s staff is very excited to continue serving up food to the Lexington community.

“We’re very excited about the new store. The old store, as everyone knows, kind of needed an uplift,” Black said. “Our business is definitely good for this location. We love being in the area and this is one of our flagship stores.”