That raccoon was a popular theme for the marchers and mourners on Sunday. Think of the most prestigious locations in the nation's capital the Rideau Street McDonald's became the dark to that light, the sesame-seedy underbelly of the staid and stoic city that fun, allegedly, forgot. The McDonald's gained particular notoriety when a 2013 video depicting a man pulling a baby raccoon out of his sweater while others were brawling in the restaurant went viral, cementing it as an iconic institution in the city. Rideau Street McDonald's Farewell March organizer Keith de Silvia-Legault speaks to CTV News. It's a running joke in Ottawa,' de Silvia-Legault said. It would be very hectic, there's a lot of fights there, it's a crime hot spot, but at the same time, it's kind of a funny place. If you were coming back from a night out, you'd go to that McDonald's-well, you wouldn't go to that McDonald's because it would be crowded. The restaurant then cut its overnight shift. The COVID-19 pandemic later forced its dining room closed. Officers visited so often that, in 2019, then-police chief Charles Bordeleau wrote to the head of McDonald's Canada to say the activity at 99 Rideau was getting out of control. Shady, sketchy, scary all words used to describe the place, which was no stranger to police. For many years, it was open 24 hours a day, and became a popular snack spot for crowds getting out of the bars after last call. The Rideau Street McDonald's was anything but sleepy. 'Every good story deserves a good ending.'

They came dressed as none other than Ronald McDonald.

'Other than Parliament Hill, I would say it's our largest landmark,' said Keith de Silvia-Legault, a University of Ottawa student who organized the march. The Rideau McDonald's Farewell March brought people from across the city, some dressed in costumes, who wanted to say their goodbyes to a part of what makes Ottawa Ottawa. It prompted an outpouring of reaction and memories from long-time Ottawans who remembered the restaurant as chaotic entity in the midst of a city often considered to be a sleepy government town. would close in April after nearly 40 years in business because the franchise owner decided not to renew the lease. In January, news broke that the McDonald's at 99 Rideau St.

On a cold but sunny Sunday in mid-March, hundreds of hearts were as broken as an ice cream machine.Īn era in Ottawa will soon come to an end and about 200 people turned out downtown to pay their respects to a notorious institution steps from Parliament Hill.

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