"recently in a vacant restaurant space in grande prairie construction workers moved in and started work. each day as i drove past i wondered what the new restaurant would be. one day, a few weeks later, i noticed that they had put new siding on the restaurant. bright yellow. now *what* did i know that was bright yellow? as i drove home i wondered and finally, like a flash of light, it hit me! i quickly turned around and drove back, pulled in the parking lot and had me a look. yes! i was right, it was going to be a mary's brown. unbelieveable. it was, to this point, a common past-time of ""newfie's"" in grande prairie to discuss whether or not the rumors were true, would mary brown's really come here some day? we'd all sit around in bars, at work, at restaurants talking about our common fondness for big mary's and taters and of course chips/dressin- g and gravy. for a few days i continued, obscurely, to drive by...just to check their progress. i checked the drive-through menu to confirm whether the whispers were true. yup, chips/dressing & gravy on the menu! one evening on my little drive-by i see a small 8.5 x 11 piece of paper in the door window ""open tomorrow 11 am."" i arrive the next morning at noon to a full parking. i walk in with a huge smile on my face to the most surreal scene of my entire life. the store was absolutely packed solid! they were playing great big sea on the over-head speakers and there was such a feeling of comraderie that it brought tears to my eyes. it was like stepping into mary brown's on freshwaster road in st. john's. i'm sure a tried and true albertan would have been a minority. i could hear all around me accents from various parts of newfoundland & labrador. everyone was just giddy and sharing their own stories of driving by to see when the ""big day"" was for the past few weeks. not one person that walked away from the counter didn't have chip/dressing & gravy. whenever i get really homesick now and long to hear accents from home, music from home and just some familiarity that is shared by those of us who miss home more than anything i head out to my favorite yellow restaurant. :) "   Submitted By: NULL