When Kenneth “Papaw” Harmon decided to cook dinner for his six grandkids and only one of them showed, he didn’t expect to become a viral sensation.
The 66-year-old Oklahoma man was overwhelmed by the reaction when his granddaughter Kelsey tweeted an emotional photo of her granddad looking sad while eating a hamburger.
https://twitter.com/kelssseyharmon/status/710257327031451648
Why couldn't they just show up to pawpaw's dinner pic.twitter.com/T2xZ7IqNaD
— Brandon williams (@hawaiinshirts) March 17, 2016
Kelsey’s photo went viral, amassing some 181,000 retweets and nearly 300,000 likes on Twitter in less than a week.
In response, one of “Sad Papaw’s” grandsons, Brock, then announced that there would be a public “cook-out with Pawpaw” over the Easter weekend.
JUST GOT DONE TALKING TO PAPAW AND HE WANTS TO INVITE EVERYONE OUT FOR A BURGER NEXT SATURDAY👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/HZppI3Rdws
— Brock Harmon (@BHarmon_10) March 19, 2016
Sure enough, hundreds of Papaw fans travelled from all over the US for the party. Indeed, BuzzFeed reported that as many as 1,500 people attended.
The line for #papawcookout is insane! So much love for Papaw! #Oklahoma pic.twitter.com/kC0GENy2zL
— Victoria Bumgarner (@vickybumgarner) March 26, 2016
https://twitter.com/GrantHermesKWTV/status/713790327136489473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Most importantly, Papaw’s precious grandchildren all turned up.
The grandkids showed up!!!!! #FnKRoadTrip #Papaw pic.twitter.com/1m2WsGogCj
— Frito from “Frito and Katy” (@FritoOnY100) March 26, 2016
What’s more, Papaw made some serious bank from selling his $2 burgers and the related merchandise.
https://twitter.com/mady_mccall/status/713776340579852288
Feel free to swing by JOE for a burger any time, Papaw.
